If you know a hurricane victim who isn’t listed here, or have additional information on someone who is let us know.

Hurricane Maria’s victims

Hundreds of families told us how their loved ones died after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. This database of stories is the most extensive record yet of who died and why.

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  • September 2017
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Deaths caused by ...
  • Causes directly related to the hurricane
  • Damages caused by flood, landslides, etc.
  • Lack of electricity
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René Rodolfo Acosta Vélez
Date of death:
2017-11-15
95 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Stroke, not specified as hemorrhage or infarction
What happened: He was anxious at the home where he lived because the power plant did not work. He had to go down stairs three times a day to heat his food on the first floor. This caused a heart attack. Then he went to a home where the power plant was turned on at certain times. The place was dark, so they did not notice that his legs were swelling. He developed a clot that caused his death.
Source: Interview with family
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Wilfredo Lanausse Soto
Date of death:
2017-09-23
89 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Don Tito was hospitalized during the hurricane. When he came back home and saw all the destruction caused by hurricane to his house, he had a heart attack. The area was flooded, his house was made with wood and zinc. The wind destroyed the ceiling. There was no electricity or water.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ismael Inostroza Burgos
Date of death:
2018-02-01
72 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: Lack of medical attention.
Source: Interview with family
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Iluminada González
Date of death:
2017-10-08
84 years old
Place of death: Juana Díaz
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: After the hurricane she was taken from a nursing home in Villalba to Tres Reyes, in Juana Díaz, because they didn't have resources to treat her. That's why she died in Juana Díaz. She was transferred without any documents, like her medical record and information about the care she needed. The tube for intravenous feeding broke, but she was not taken to a gastroenterologist. There were landslides behind the nursing home. So there was no access to medical care.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Héctor Luis García
Date of death:
2017-10-14
77 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: There was no transportation because Lares was destroyed. When they reached the hospital, the medical equipment was damaged. There were no drugs and he had a heart attack.
Source: Response to online survey
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Emilia Monserrate Aneses De La Rosa
Date of death:
2017-10-02
92 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: She was in a nursing home in Aguadilla. She got ill and it was difficult to take her to the hospital because there was no diesel or gas. There were also no open hospitals in Aguadilla, so she was taken to San Germán. The day after arriving to the hospital, she died. On October 2 we received a phone call to tell us that she was dead. They said that she died of a lung condition, but for me, her death was related to the hurricane because they could not take her from the home to give her medical treatment and no hospitals were open in Aguadilla.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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María De Los Ángeles Álvarez
Date of death:
2018-06-09
88 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: In November 2017, her mental health deteriorated rapidly. The darkness made her disoriented. She said that people were at the door, and when she went out to see who it was, she fell. She was diagnosed with senile dementia. In April I took her to a nursing home because she needed permanent supervision. On June 9, 2018, she had a heart attack and died. Before the hurricane she didn't have any health condition, just hypertension which was under control with medication.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Gerardo Rojas Cruz
Date of death:
2017-09-26
56 years old
Place of death: Comerío
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Stress worsened and altered his condition. The incident happened six days after hurricane Maria. He was getting ready to report to work when he told me he couldn't breathe. I immediately took him to the hospital, but when we got there, his condition worsened and he died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Faustino Báez Ramos
Date of death:
2017-09-24
78 years old
Place of death: Comerío
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: After the hurricane he did not wake up. There was no way to take him to a hospital. The roads were blocked because of some landslides.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Flor De María Del Toro Pagán
Date of death:
2017-09-26
86 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: She was in an intensive care unit where there was only a fan on a table that barely moved the air. To make matters worse, given the darkness caused by blackouts, the curtains on the windows were open, increasing the intense heat. She had no air conditioning and she was located near a window. She caught an infection as a result of the conditions in that unit.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Joaquín Solivan Ocasio
Date of death:
2017-10-12
43 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: My husband was admitted to the hospital with a strong pain in the abdomen the day after Hurricane Maria. When we reached the hospital everyone looked like zombies. They were looking after patients, but thinking about their own problems. They took a CT and found his liver and gallbladder were swollen. They also found low hemoglobin, low red and white blood cells, low platelets. The power generator went out several times and medical tests that were needed immediately were not done until some weeks later. We stayed 25 days in the hospital. Two weeks after he died, some tests results arrived. My husband had cancer in the blood. A treatable disease became a death sentence for not having been treated with care and interest.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ramón Cruz Laboy
Date of death:
2018-01-24
75 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: He had a liver condition, he had a limp, and he never got the medicine he needed approved. A door opened during the hurricane and it pushed him, he fell and fractured his hip and leg. A short while after the hurricane and after a fall, his condition deteriorated. I took him to my house. He came in and out of the hospital. Before the hurricane, he used to walk and go out despite his condition. He lived his life. The knock on the knee and hip affected him deeply. He was alive and well before the hurricane. I think if he had not had that fall he could be alive today
Source: Interview with family
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José Román Álvarez Fonseca
Date of death:
2018-04-25
78 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
What happened: He had a pacemaker with defibrillator. He had a surgery in 2009. After the storm, while removing rubble from his house, he hit his leg in the courtyard. He had a surgery in order to remove a clot from his leg. After that his health deteriorated. We remained without electricity until February 26. The heat suffocated him and his health was aggravated. He was bedridden. He spent 13 days in hospice care. He needed an oxygen machine that could run with a power generator. At the end, his lungs failed.
Source: Interview with family
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Juan Antonio Medina Vázquez
Date of death:
2018-04-22
79 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He got depressed after the storm. A fallen tree destroyed half of the house. He didn't want help from anyone. In April, he still had no electricity and for that reason he was living in his car and slept there. The house was uninhabitable. That ongoing discomfort caused him anguish and depression. Two days before his death he felt bad, but he did not go to the hospital. He died on Friday but nobody found him that day. On Sunday I found him in the car.
Source: Interview with family
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Aída María Abreu Rodríguez
Date of death:
2018-04-30
85 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She lived with me; she was bedridden. We had no electricity and we depended on a power generator. She needed a breathing machine and it's not the same with a power generator. We couldn't keep the air conditioning on all the time. There were many difficulties. She got a cold and I took her to the hospital. There she died. The electricity didn't come back until June 11.
Source: Interview with family
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María Felícita Arroyo Beltrán
Date of death:
2018-05-23
82 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She had respiratory difficulties, Alzheimer's and her liver no longer worked. She always needed oxygen with the breathing machine but we had no electricity. I had to buy a power generator. She got worse. We had no air conditioning. With the generator, things did not work well. Everything got damaged. A power generator was not enough for keeping the breathing machine working.
Source: Interview with family
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Ángela Santos Martínez
Date of death:
2017-10-25
95 years old
Place of death: Vieques
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: She needed an oxygen machine but she didn't have electricity. Finally we got a power generator on October 18, but it only lasted seven days with her. She needed her oxygen. Her health absolutely deteriorated as a result of not having it. She had no air conditioning either. She had Alzheimer's and Parkinson's but was receiving good treatment. Before the hurricane she was fine, given her condition.
Source: Interview with family
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Aída Ramona Cruz Cardona
Date of death:
2017-12-27
54 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Lack of medical attention.
Source: Interview with family
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Aníbal Dones Flores
Date of death:
2018-02-09
54 years old
Place of death: San Lorenzo
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: There was no electricity in the house. He woke up with an asthma attack. His condition was aggravated by trying to wake up his brother to turn the power generator on in order to use his breathing machine. Given the lack of electricity, the phone signal was poor. The 911 office failed to communicate with ambulances in San Lorenzo and sent us an ambulance from Juncos. They arrived when he was already dead.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Yolanda Burgos Morales
Date of death:
2018-01-21
46 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Yolanda was a nurse at the hospital Ryder in Humacao, which got severely damaged after the hurricane and could not provide services to their patients anymore. So Yolanda became unemployed and she started to be depressed. After the heart attack, she was intubated from December 22, 2017 until her death on January 21, 2018. After Hurricane Maria, the lack of electricity, the long lines under the sun, the economic crisis, the lack of water caused Yolanda a lot of anxiety, leading her to a heart attack and then the death.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Virginia Ramos Aponte
Date of death:
2018-02-02
88 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Mom had to use an oxygen mask for her lung condition due to her age. As a consequence of not using the oxygen mask 24 hours a day, she got a lung infection or pneumonia. I took her to a nursing home for care, but there was no electricity there either.
Source: Response to online survey
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Hilario Negrón Cruz
Date of death:
2018-01-05
87 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: After the hurricane, the power generator was damaged. He had a lung condition. One of his lungs was only working at 10%. He had difficulties breathing, had several colds, and was in the hospital more than once. Then the health complications began, even after the electricity came back. I think that with the power generator damaged, my dad didn't find the way to stay cool enough. He didn't have fan. Maybe his death was not a direct consequence, but maybe he died because of the time he lasted without all the required care, like oxygen, food and his sleeping hours.
Source: Interview with family
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María Ester Valles Vega
Date of death:
2017-09-25
80 years old
Place of death: Guánica
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: She had an anxiety attack and died. There was no telephone, or gasoline; impassable roads. I could not take her to the hospital. She saw her house was flooded. She was very depressed. I have a schizophrenic son and I had to leave him with my husband because I had to take care of her. She almost couldn't hold hereself up. She too was too hot. She ate very little and could not breathe. She told me, and then went unconscious. We tried to take her to Concepción Hospital, but the road was really impassable. When the ambulance arrived, they told me that the power generator at Concepción hospital, in Guánica, had collapsed, but when the ambulance left, she died. My husband also died in December. He had cancer, but his condition was complicated with Maria. I was making more strength and had to be moving from one place to another. The condition got complicated.
Source: Interview with family
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Luis Castro Vega
Date of death:
2017-10-07
83 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
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Carlos Luis Irizarry Lugo
Date of death:
2017-09-24
92 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: After the hurricane passed, they could no longer provide oxygen therapy to the patient because there was no electricity. They also needed to split the oxygen among several patients. They didn't provide the patient the proper care that was provided at the beginning, when we arrived.
Source: Interview with family
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Carmen Eloína Rivera Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-21
89 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She had pneumonia, but she died after the strong storm. She felt hopeless. I got tired trying to call the nurses at 7:00 pm, but they never appeared.
Source: Interview with family
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Julito Marty Irizarry
Date of death:
2017-09-27
52 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He was taking Metformin, which causes diarrhea. During the hurricane, there was no water or electricity. He was in the house with his son and his brother. He did not want to eat in case of diarrhea and he could not go down to the toilet. I think he died from dehydration.
Source: Interview with family
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Ana Belén Pantoja Sierra
Date of death:
2017-10-05
74 years old
Place of death: Vega Baja
Official cause of death: Viral hepatitis
What happened: We left the house in the middle of a flood, with the floodwater up to your neck and through the window. The water was black and my mom fell on the road and swallowed that water. She was fine for a few days and then she got ill. She lasted two or three days suffering pain and feeling ill, but she did not ask to see a doctor. When I took her to the doctor at night, she was admitted and never get out again. The doctors told me she was exposed to bacteria from mice.
Source: Interview with family
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Tomasa Báez Merced
Date of death:
2017-10-06
84 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: There was no power generator. No one in the neighborhood had basic services. The weather was hot. I understand that the care did not come on time. They are from Las Piedras.
Source: Interview with family
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Pedro Rafael Pagán Pérez
Date of death:
2017-10-07
77 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: If only he had been given medical treatment or if he had been admitted to a a hospital. He was bleeding and it was not known why. No hospital admitted him because there was no room. A doctor went to his house and gave him serum. All this was a consequence of the lack of electricity and basic services, according to the nurses from the home.
Source: Interview with family
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Samuel Edgardo Rivera Santiago
Date of death:
2017-10-07
49 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My brother was diabetic, but he died because no ambulance came to give him medical treatment. He had no electricity or communications. He had vomiting and diarrhea and his condition was aggravated.
Source: Interview with family
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Saúl Pabey Martínez
Date of death:
2017-10-11
27 years old
Place of death: Peñuelas
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: A friend hired him to connect his house to the electric line of a nearby neighborhood. Once my son climbed the ladder and lifted the machete he was electrocuted and fell.
Source: Interview with family
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Pedro Emilio Nieves Delgado
Date of death:
2017-10-08
85 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Anemias
What happened: My dad had a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) to be fed and also needed oxygen. He was fine until the electric system collapsed.
Source: Interview with family
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Carlos Gilberto Rivera Suárez
Date of death:
2017-11-04
78 years old
Place of death: Not collected
Official cause of death: Influenza and pneumonia
What happened: He got pneumonia in the shelter. He did not have it when he arrived. He caught pneumonia in less than a month. At the shelter, sometimes there was no electricity, no water, when it rained the water came in. My husband had already recovered from a previous lung surgery. The doctor at the shelter said that my husband had a bad cold. A health officer checked my husband and said that he had something else. FEMA said I could file a claim to cover his death expenses , but they have not given me anything. They ask for a updated death certificate saying his death was caused by the hurricane. No doctor wants to give me that.
Source: Interview with family
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Ruth Olmo Guevara
Date of death:
2017-11-23
52 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Lack of medicines after the hurricane. There were no doctors, no hospitals available. She used to take medication to keep her blood pressure under control.
Source: Interview with family
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José Abraham González Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-12-16
19 years old
Place of death: Arroyo
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: He lost control of a car while driving after going to the movies and to a fair in Santa Isabel. His mother said that he took a route that was not usual and it seems that the hurry and lack of lighting made the car hit the curb.
Source: Interview with family
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Digna Pinto Gómez
Date of death:
2017-12-07
81 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Pablo Burgos Amaro
Date of death:
2017-11-26
71 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The road to get to his house was difficut; cars couldn't get there. It was the countryside. His condition deteroriated due to the complications of the hurricane. There were no resources available at hospitals to follow up on him, nor medications.
Source: Interview with family
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Juana Burgos Del Moral
Date of death:
2017-10-07
90 years old
Place of death: Fajardo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The cause of the death was a sore on the toe. She was in a nursing home in Humacao and the doctor told me that I had to take her to a hospital. I called an ambulance and they told that there were no hospitals available. The doctor told me that he would give her treatment, but then called me to tell me that she needed to be hospitalized because of the severity of the sore. Hospital HIMA in Caguas was impossible, we took her to the Caribbean Medical Hospital. There the doctor told me an amputation was needed. Her condition improved with the treatment and the doctors even spoke about discharging her, but she died. My brother told me she was throwing up blood. It appears that antibiotic treatment caused her bleeding. The root cause of her death was that there was not a hospital available on time.
Source: Interview with family
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Petra Martínez Abréu
Date of death:
2017-10-03
91 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: She stopped eating and talking after loosing all her facilities, like a room with air conditioning to prevent her ulcers from getting worse. I think her death is an indirect effect of the hurricane because she did not have her equipment anymore. If that had not happened, we would still have her with us.
Source: Interview with family
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Felícita Martínez Morales
Date of death:
2018-02-01
78 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Her lung condition worsened because she needed permanent oxygen. At home we had two power generators, but they aggravated her condtion. In the hospital, they asked me if I had a generator at home.
Source: Response to online survey
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Víctor Hugo Ruiz Ramos
Date of death:
2017-09-27
64 years old
Place of death: Corozal
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: He had emphysema. An explosion at the gas station caused the gases to come into his house and due to the lack of electricity, he could not activate his oxygen machine. So he could not breathe. An ambulance took him to the emergency center in Corozal, but he died on the way.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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José Rafael Sánchez Román
Date of death:
2017-09-20
71 years old
Place of death: Morovis
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My dad had a heart condition. He had a surgery in February. He lived on a hill and it seems that he didn't survive the shock of the hurricane.
Source: Interview with family
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Jovina Abreu Pinto
Date of death:
2017-09-26
81 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: We knew about her death two or three days later. Her body lasted two days there because there was no way to get to the nursing home. The police came to our house to tell us. Her death was certified by a doctor who used to go to the nursing home.
Source: Interview with family
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Fausta Digna Sanabria Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-08
89 years old
Place of death: Aibonito
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: There were no doctors available to give her medication for her bedsores. Her son wanted to take her to a nursing home in Aibonito, where there was electricity. In Aibonito she was taken to the Hospital Menonita because her health condition got worse. She died almost upon arriving at hospital. The lack of electricity aggravated her health and she died.
Source: Interview with family
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José Sampayo Fernández
Date of death:
2017-09-24
90 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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María Margarita Cintrón Rosario
Date of death:
2018-05-26
62 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She was a mental patient. After hurricane Maria she got a severe depression and stopped taking medications. Given that there was no electricity at her home, she stopped monitoring her blood pressure and her breathing therapies. All this caused her a massive heart attack and her death.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Éric José Campos
Date of death:
2017-10-02
40 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Complications of medical and surgical care
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Angélica Santiago Pérez
Date of death:
2017-11-09
96 years old
Place of death: Peñuelas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Before the hurricane, she had a relapse. She was hospitalized two weeks and she stabilized. After the hurricane, we realized she was very affected by what she was seeing through the window, what was happening, and her condition was gradually aggravated until she died.
Source: Interview with family
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Alfonsa Díaz Figueroa
Date of death:
2017-10-30
87 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Carlos Gregorio García Firpi
Date of death:
2017-10-05
82 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Spending the hurricane alone really affected him, as well as seeing his house's roof damaged. The house was destroyed; it was full of water. His neighbors told me that he wasn't showering and that he was lost. I live in Colorado and I called an ambulance to go look for him, but they couldn't find him. There were no plane tickets to Puerto Rico. I could not get to him on time. He went to the hospital on his own. He was treated for only one day and sent back to home. He has long suffered from skin cancer on the face and arms. He refused to have an open heart surgery and a colonoscopy. He was stable before the hurricane, although he began to have memory problems and he got lost several times. He was independent and he used to buy his own food.
Source: Interview with family
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Édgar Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-21
58 years old
Place of death: Cabo Rojo
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: He was receiving chemotherapy every week and was strong. He used to walk. He received chemotherapy on Sept. 18, but after the hurricane we were isolated for 10 days without electricity or water at his brother's until an ambulance from the Civil Defense came and transferred him to hospital La Concepcion in San Germán. That day he received chemotherapy but his condition was already very deteriorated. He was 6.2 feet tall and weighed 350 pounds, but he was down to 200 pounds in less than a month. On his third visit to the hospital, we were told that there was nothing to do because an X-ray showed damage to his lungs.
Source: Interview with family
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José Alberto Álvarez Febles
Date of death:
2017-10-15
70 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Influenza and pneumonia
What happened: He was the owner of the building where he lived. He rented out three through Airbnb; another was rented long-term. He knew that he would not have tenants because his building did not have a power plant. His concern about the lack of tourists, the national tragedy, and an argument with his partner caused a heart attack, but he did not die from it. I found him lying in his apartment, called an ambulance, and took him to the nearest hospital with heart surgery unit. There his condition worsened. He got pneumonia and died.
Source: Interview with family
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Egraciela Galíndez Ortega
Date of death:
2017-10-29
94 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She had been permanently connected two months to an oxygen concentrator because her lungs failed, but she was stable. She used to eat, talk, and she was at home. But after the hurricane things got complicated. She spent almost two days without oxygen and her condition worsened. We took her to a medical center in the Coliseum. They gave her oxygen and transferred her to the hospital. Her condition improved and she was discharged. Then she was hospitalized for the second time and died there. The deterioration of her health was caused by lack of oxygen.
Source: Interview with family
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Julio Rosario Gómez
Date of death:
2017-10-29
66 years old
Place of death: San Lorenzo
Official cause of death: Assault (homicide
What happened: Julio was attacked and killed by a homeless man due to lack of money. Julio used to feed his attacker. When the attacker knew that Julio received some money from FEMA, he assaulted him to steal the money and killed him.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Luz María Bracero Ramos
Date of death:
2017-11-10
92 years old
Place of death: Vega Baja
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: Alzheimer's patient. His health deteriorated due to lack of electricity.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Luz María Figueroa Ocejo
Date of death:
2017-09-23
93 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: The daughter said her mother had cardiorespiratory symptoms after the hurricane. She was taken to San Francisco Hospital. While in the hospital, she had a heart attack. Early in the morning of Sept. 22, the hospital system collapsed, so they transferred all the patients who needed mechanical ventilation. Her mother was taken to Pavia Hospital in Santurce on Sept. 23. They arrived at the hospital at about 6 a.m. Her mother was moved to a room after 9:00 p.m. Just half an hour after she was moved to the room, she died.
Source: Interview with family
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Pilar Guzmán Ríos
Date of death:
2017-09-29
73 years old
Place of death: Corozal
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: The day of the hurricane, the house was flooded and she tried to remove the water. She caught pneumonia and died. Her son said that his mother tried to clean the sewer to stop the water from flooding the house in the middle of the heavy rain. She got completely wet and got ill. Several days later, she still had chest pain. The son cannot say if her mother received proper medication to treat “flu” after getting wet.
Source: Interview with family
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Brian Mallory Santiago Page
Date of death:
2017-09-22
60 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He died of a heart attack at his home. He had fallen that day, striking his knees, so he went to lie down. When his mother went to check him, he did not answer. They checked his pulse and found that it was very low. This happened at 10 p.m. Public ambulances didn't have fuel and the private ones did not want to go because of debris and flooding. The next day, at 8 a.m., a state ambulance arrived, but he was already dead. His sister said his death was caused by the hurricane because if he had received timely medical services, he would have recovered.
Source: Interview with family
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Leonardo Encháutegui Flores
Date of death:
2017-09-25
74 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: His son said that after the hurricane, he removed the debris from his father's house. Nevertheless, his father decided to climb to the roof of the house to continue cleaning, even when his son told him that conditions were not suitable for him to go up. His father climbed to the roof, slipped on some branches and fell off the roof from a height of 10 feet, dying on the spot.
Source: Interview with family
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Inés Cecilia Pagán Ramos
Date of death:
2017-10-28
66 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: Her son went to visit his mother on Oct. 27. He found that she had not eaten any of the food people had brought over, or drank water. He was told that she had been taken to the hospital. After two hours in the emergency room, they found that her pulse was high (130-140bpm) and her pupils were dilated. The doctor decided to intubate, her but said she could not do much. She was dehydrated and had not been feeling well. At 6 a.m., the son received a call telling him about her death. The son thinks that his mother got depressed after the hurricane as a consequence of the lack of services and being alone.
Source: Interview with family
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Marielly Fuentes Torres
Date of death:
2017-11-15
44 years old
Place of death: Naranjito
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: It happened on a local road where there were landslides caused by the hurricane. That day, the road had been cleaned, but there was still some debris from a landslide. She was heading to her parents' home for a niece's birthday. It had rained and the road was still filled with mud. The car skidded and fell into the abyss. She was with two children, who survived the accident.
Source: Interview with family
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Lorraine Montenegro
Date of death:
2017-10-01
74 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: She was in Puerto Rico on vacation. For several days, her son tried to get her out of Puerto Rico, but he could not. She had never been diagnosed with COPD and was in good condition. For two weeks, his son didn't know her whereabouts. He sent a friend to her house and this friend took a video of her. In the video she seemed a little dehydrated from lack of electricity and water, and the trouble to get food. She came to the hospital on Sept. 30. The next day, her son received a call telling him she died.
Source: Interview with family
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Casiano Betancourt Morales
Date of death:
2017-10-31
72 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He was feeling that his blood pressure was low. He did not feel well as a consequence of the lack of services. All that struggle to get gas or look for things was difficult for him. On Sept. 30, he went to his cardiologist. He was admitted to the cardiovascular unit. He had tachycardia and the doctors decided to transfer him to the intensive care unit. He died in the hospital.
Source: Interview with family
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Iris Migdalia Meléndez Figueroa
Date of death:
2017-10-19
58 years old
Place of death: Trujillo Alto
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: She was diagnosed with cancer. During the week of the hurricane, she was hospitalized at the Oncological Hospital. She was discharged because there was no electricity or water, but they did not give her medication or oxygen. A week later, she was taken to the hospital because her health worsened. At home there was no electricity either. She was in poor condition and dehydrated. She only received one chemotherapy session. The hospital still had no water or other resources. She received a second chemotherapy session and was discharged on Saturday. She died on a Wednesday night.
Source: Interview with family
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María Del Carmen Pagán Cintrón
Date of death:
2017-10-30
60 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She had never had a breathing condition. After the hurricane the general doctor treated it as asthma and told me to take her to hospital. We thought it was asthma or just fatigue. One day we couldn't anymore and call an ambulance. The paramedic said she had water in her lungs. She never got an appointment with a pneumologist as a consequence of the effects of the hurricane. It was very late and died in the hospital.
Source: Interview with family
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Míriam Herrera Álvarez
Date of death:
2017-11-19
60 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: She was a woman with several conditions. Given she had an amputated leg, I as her daughter-in-law, used to do things for her. But I was working and had to take care of my two children. After Hurricane Maria, there were a lot of things we needed, but it was difficult to get them, for example ice to keep the insulin at the correct temperature.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ana Rivera Reyes
Date of death:
2017-12-06
95 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Lack of electricity and water caused her depression. She did not even want to eat or get out of bed. Because of this she caught pneumonia. She spent 25 days in an intensive care unit, never recovered, and died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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José Ángel Fonseca Álvarez
Date of death:
2017-11-24
51 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: He had equipment for a bedsore that needed electricity. In addition, he needed skin care treatment. Some nurses use to take care of him at home. After the hurricane they never came back again. His sore got worse. We took him to Pavia Hospital in Santurce on Oct. 3 where he had a surgery and remained hospitalized until Nov. 1. He was discharged. He needed to use an electric machine to heal his sore and the machine needed to be recharged every eight hours. He was bleeding a lot because the machine suctioned the sore. The heat, humidity, and other factors worsened his whole condition.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Providencia Rivera Reyes
Date of death:
2017-12-19
92 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She had a lung condition which was aggravated by the lack of a proper equipment after the hurricane.
Source: Interview with family
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Francisco Rivera Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-09-23
62 years old
Place of death: Hatillo
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Missed dialysis therapies due to blackout.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Doroteo Díaz Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-11-07
70 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: Daddy was suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension. Two days after hurricane, he felt ill. He was hospitalized about a month and had surgery to remove his spleen. He was discharged and in the place where he lived there was no electricity or water. He stayed only one day in the house, because the next day he got sick. We tried to take him to an emergency facility that was open in Humacao, but they told us we needed to take him back to the hospital where the surgery had been done because his wound had an infection. He spent two weeks in hospital until he died.
Source: Interview with family
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Carmen García
Date of death:
2017-12-31
57 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: She had many relapses. He doctor in the US told us to take her to Puerto Rico because she was already very weak.
Source: Interview with family
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Miguel Ángel Serrano Octubre
Date of death:
2017-10-20
75 years old
Place of death: Naguabo
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He could not connect to his oxygen concentrator because he had no electricity and could not buy a generator. His daughter used to provide him electricity at night. But the day he died, his daughter's power generator got damaged. He needed to be connected to oxygen for some hours a day. His wife was at home. He got dizzy because he couldn't breathe. Because there were no electricity, it was not possible to use mechanical ventilation. An ambulance was called, but he died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Elías López García
Date of death:
2017-10-23
72 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He was very depressed because of the lack of electricity. He got sick and was taken in the ambulance. He could not breathe. My kids were the ones who went with him to the hospital. My neighbors stayed here with me. (The informant could not finish, began to cry and asked to end the call).
Source: Interview with family
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María Victoria Sánchez De Jesús
Date of death:
2017-10-07
81 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: With no electricity, she suffocated. I turned the power generator on to give her respiratory therapy, but it was too late.
Source: Interview with family
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Kenny Huertas González
Date of death:
2017-11-05
30 years old
Place of death: San Lorenzo
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: He was helping some neighbors to remove debris after the hurricane. He fell and fractured some bones. He had two surgeries. He was hospitalized almost a week. He had convulsions. The paramedics arrived. He lost his ability to move and then died.
Source: Interview with family
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Guillermo Alfonso Del Pozo Villalón
Date of death:
2017-10-12
76 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: My dad was bedridden. He had a housekeeper and air conditioning seven days a week. He had a urinary tract infection. The day of the hurricane, he was hospitalized at Hospital San Pablo in Bayamon. He was fine. The hospital discharged him. He came back home, where we didn't have a power generator. There was no communication, either. There were no services at all. That was a torture, a struggle. His health condition started to deteriorate. He got dehydrated. His pillow and his bed were flooded with his own sweat. It lasted 10 days at home. I felt helpless. If we had had air conditioning ...
Source: Interview with family
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Míriam González Díaz
Date of death:
2017-12-18
53 years old
Place of death: Gurabo
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Eight months before the storm, the patient was diagnosed with ALS syndrome. She needed assisted feeding. After Hurricane Maria, the feeding machine didn't work because of the lack of electricity.
Source: Interview with family
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Antonia Elizabeth Colón Salgado
Date of death:
2017-12-18
66 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: She stopped smoking over 16 years ago. Many of her health problems were caused by her respiratory condition and her quality of life. She went to the hospital with pneumonia. The day before the hurricane she was hospitalized, but doctors told her, “If you want to go home, just go.” Many of the patients were sent back home to prevent diseases spreading. Her pneumonia condition worsened because of the lack of electricity. While there was electricity, she slept well and she was fine After the storm, everything worsened.
Source: Interview with family
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Teófilo David Rodríguez Díaz
Date of death:
2017-12-01
46 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Mr. Rodriguez received psychiatric treatment because of his alcoholism. He even was taken to court for compulsory help because of his addiction. Given the long waiting for the hearings at court, he continued to drink alcohol at the same time he was taking medication. He was taken three times to hospital to treat his condition. He also threatened to kill himself. He was not given the right help and took his own life.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ana Iris Laboy Solís
Date of death:
2018-04-18
68 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Lack of energy caused her anxiety and exacerbated phobias she already had. In addition, she couldn't sleep as she needed a fan to breathe easily. As I said, this forced her to leave to the U.S, where she died. She got depression and everything. She left Puerto Rico in December to go to the U.S.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Guillermo Efraín Pérez Pérez
Date of death:
2017-09-29
95 years old
Place of death: Not collected
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: The Medical Center in Mayagüez was not working properly. From the hospital in San Germán, he was transferred to Rio Piedras Medical Center. A surgery couldn't be done because there was no electricity, no running water. There was nothing. I took him in an ambulance to San Germán and he died on the way.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Graciela Sánchez Beltrán
Date of death:
2018-01-13
77 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: She was removed from a nursing home that closed because of no supplies and electricity. We did not have enough medication and had no communication with her doctor. Another doctor made medication changes. After several weeks, her Alzheimer's, hyperthyroidism, anxiety, and insomnia conditions worsened. She lost weight due to a change in food because of lack of electricity and running water. She needed a liquid diet that we couldn't provide because we didn't have an electric food processor. She needed air conditioning at night and daytime and the heat and the mosquitoes significantly affected her. She died in January from cardiorespiratory arrest.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Dimas Nigaglioni Ortega
Date of death:
2017-10-10
87 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The person suffered Alzheimer's disease and was feeling desperate due to he lack of electricity. He suffered respiratory arrest, but was not treated on time because of the lack of electricity. There were complications with his health care: the heat, no electricity, formation of bedsores, diabetes. He was already bedridden without proper ventilation. He did not have a power generator or any of those things.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Elsa Gutiérrez Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-04
71 years old
Place of death: San Germán
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My mother had several health conditions, including heart problems and dementia due to poor kidney function. Without water or electricity, and ambulances did not arrive, and everything was complicated until it broke down and her lungs stopped working. Lack of communication and no ambulances. She could not walk. It was chaos.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Joaquín Rivera Santos
Date of death:
2017-11-15
54 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Death caused by the lack of electricity and dialysis treatments. He struggled a lot just to receive his treatments. The hours of his dialysis therapy were reduced. He increased the fluid intake because of the heat and simultaneously the accumulation of fluid contributed to his death.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Raúl Díaz Santiago
Date of death:
2017-12-16
81 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: Asthmatic. Constantly dealing with the power generator and diesel worsened his condition. Not having basic services, like running water, it was more difficult to take care of his own health condition.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Juan Gabriel Valentín Fuentes
Date of death:
2017-10-22
32 years old
Place of death: San Sebastián
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: Hurricane Maria brought down a huge tree. He was cutting the tree and one of its branches fell on him and killed him. The tip of the branch went into his heart. We tried to help him but could not do it.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Robert Rodríguez Iglesias
Date of death:
2017-12-30
60 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: He was a cancer patient. There was no electricity and he missed six chemotherapy sessions. The lack of electricity strongly impacted his quality of life. He turned on the air conditioning every day because he said he felt like he was burning. I saw him suffer a lot. His diet was affected too. He did not have good nutrition. Also the stress that came from that situation. And he didn't use the sleep apnea machine.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Pedro Ismael Carrión Fernández
Date of death:
2017-09-29
65 years old
Place of death: Dorado
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He lived with my mom. She realized one night that his temperature was low. She called an ambulance and she was told that he was already dead. He was a diabetic patient. He had a heart surgery. He had high blood pressure. We do not know if he had kidney failure. But his health condition was deteriorated by hurricane, as a consequence of blackouts and not having air conditioning. The interruption of the dialysis sessions, we believe, greatly contributed to his death.
Source: Interview with family
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Luis Manuel Vázquez Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-03
60 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: It was apparently a heart attack, but no autopsy was performed. He was found inside his bathroom. Neighbors said he needed insulin. Every time he went to buy insulin, the drugstores were closed or the lines for buying were endless. The communications were also interrupted and he couldn't call the emergency service. The roads were damaged and there were no gas. Everything was chaos. There was no access to medicines. It is evident that his death was a hurricane-related death. I imagine that his condition mixed with stress was not a good combination.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ana Luz Díaz Marcano
Date of death:
2017-10-12
70 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: My mom's house was flooded with water because of heavy rains. My mom's house is close to a road. All the water from the road got into the house. That was dirty water, dirty everything. She tried to to sweep and take the water out of the house. That's why we understand that her death is related to the hurricane. She did not want to leave her home, where she had no electricity or running water. Finally she came to my house. I realized she suddenly had high fever. We went to the hospital. They did some tests and found that she had pneumonia and a urinary tract infection. She had a respiratory arrest and they tried to use a breathing machine but she had no vital signs. She had type 2 diabetes.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ramón Ruiz Romero
Date of death:
2017-11-23
79 years old
Place of death: Hatillo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He was alone during the hurricane, holding a door and trying to avoid winds. He was so frightened that two days later he was admitted to a hospital. His cardiac function decreased to 10 percent. They put him on a pacemaker with a defibrillator. He died on Thanksgiving Day 2017. He thought the hurricane was going to knock down the door. A lot of water came in the house. He suffered a lot of stress. Because of the stress and anxiety of the hurricane he began to feel bad.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ana Elba Cuevas Velázquez
Date of death:
2017-10-28
82 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: A tree fell on her house. She had a heart attack caused by the scare. She was feeling very depressed. She used to come from her house to a house right next to her door. In the morning of that day she went to take a shower but I imagine she felt bad, seeing the damage caused by the fallen tree and her heart failed. She sat on the dining room table and died there, sitting at the table.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Adelaida Machuca Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-26
83 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My grandmother needed permanent oxygen therapy, but there was no oxygen available. She had heart failure earlier in the year. But she was stable and her personal nurse was taking care of her. She had a portable oxygen machine, which needed electricity. After the hurricane, we didn't have electricity. She could not stay at home. We took her to a hospital, but it took three or four days because there was no communication. Originally, the hospital did not want to admit her because she was stable. But her house was flooded and had no electricity. In the hospital her condition deteriorated.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Alodia Aguayo Pastor
Date of death:
2017-12-10
98 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: Although her body was dying, I believe that Hurricane Maria aggravated her health condition. The lack of air conditioning caused ulcers and skin conditions that eventually accelerated the degradation of her body. She still had energy and could move herself. It was hot. She was bedridden. The ulcers appeared on the feet and lower back. She got better. We took her home, where she had a power generator. But she was already weak. She was probably going to die soon, but not so fast.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Octavio Hamílcar Díaz Negrón
Date of death:
2017-10-20
75 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Diabetic patient with high blood pressure. The patient had a dental abscess caused by untreated tooth decay. There were no dentists available. After the hurricane, he broke a tooth. Eventually, a dental abscess appeared. He was taking antibiotics. He basically died for lack of medical services. He arrived at the hospital the same day he died. His wife took him to the hospital because he was having problems breathing and the nebulizer did not settle the problem. Just as they were about to transfer him to a hospital in San Juan, he died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Quintín Vidal Rolon
Date of death:
2017-10-20
89 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Because there was no power, at night, he locked himself in the house early. He lit a lamp (gas lamp, which is lit with a wick). He knocked over the lamp or he fell asleep and started a fire. That is what we assume because it is still under investigation by the forensic office. We do not have a death certificate with cause. We can not receive help from FEMA until we have it. We have a certificate without cause.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Juan Dolores Figueroa Cruz
Date of death:
2017-10-04
83 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He was a strong, independent person. After the hurricane, parts of his house were. All that affected him. Being without light... he did not want to come to our house. We did not hear from him in two days and on the third day, my niece called him and he did not answer. That day, we went into the house and found him. It was a heart attack. He did not take anything, he did not take medication. He did not have diabetes or high blood pressure, just a discomfort in his knee.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Natalio Ramón Rodríguez Lebrón
Date of death:
2018-01-06
77 years old
Place of death: Maunabo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Respiratory arrest after a power generator stopped working at 1 a.m., interrupting oxygen therapy to treat sleep apnea.
Source: Response to online survey
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Jorge Luis Oliveras Reyes
Date of death:
2017-12-22
52 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: His cancer treatment was interrupted. His medical office was closed. It was quite difficult. He needed special treatment. After Hurricane Maria, he had too many problems treating his disease. I looked after him three months. His hemoglobin levels began to lower and he was admitted several times to the hospital. In December, doctors told me there was not much to do. He also needed an oxygen machine with batteries. Those batteries were rechargeable—you can imagine it was difficult to recharge them.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Pedro Vargas Méndez
Date of death:
2017-10-09
76 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The accumulation of water and waste allowed many bacteria to grow.
Source: Response to online survey
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Mildred González Irizarry
Date of death:
2017-11-22
72 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Lack of electricity, medicine, and communication.
Source: Response to online survey
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Eladio Santiago Colón
Date of death:
2017-10-29
84 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My grandfather needed dialysis. He also suffered from a lung condition. As a result of the hurricane, he didn't have proper dialysis therapies. The lack of electricity aggravated his breathing condition because he didn't use the oxygen machine or the air conditioning. Lack of electricity, dialysis, insulin, air.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Secundino Rivera Román
Date of death:
2017-10-26
91 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: My father had respiratory arrest. After the hurricane he couldn't use his mechanical ventilation, the air conditioning, or the air mattress he needed to treat his bedsores. He also needed special medical treatment for his sores.
Source: Response to online survey
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Miguel Ángel Sosa Villa
Date of death:
2017-10-14
73 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The patient was bedridden with an open wound due to a fistula. Given the open wound, the patient needed an adjustable bed and air mattress. In addition, the doctor prescribed permanent air conditioning due to the open wound, which needed to be treated frequently. There was not enough water to clean the patient as frequently as recommended. All this triggered an infection that caused the death by a septicemic shock. In addition, the hospital in Aguadilla was not working at 100 percent and didn't have air conditioning at its intensive care unit.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Diana Iris Vázquez Fuentes
Date of death:
2017-10-22
63 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The patient couldn't use a mechanical ventilation and sleep apnea machine.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Pedro Antonio Colón Rivera
Date of death:
2017-12-15
87 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: The emergency room didn't have enough staff for treating so many sick people. My dad was admitted at the emergency room with a heart attack. But no medical test was done for five hours. Then he had another heart attack at 2 p.m. He had arrived to the hospital at 10 a.m. but no one did what the doctor said.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Oyola
Date of death:
2017-10-22
65 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: I think the lack of energy and health care. A nurse used to take care of him. He was quadriplegic. She thinks he was tired. He didn't have a power generator. After the hurricane, he ate uncooled food because there was no electricity. He didn't have the things he needed. Before the hurricane, he was well, given his condition.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ayesha Ydalith Arroyo Valentín
Date of death:
2017-10-01
30 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The autopsy report not yet been released. The case is still open. She was diabetic patient since she was 6 years old. They were told that she died by natural cause. But she didn't have electirity or water. She was concerned about that. Her insulin was unrefrigerated.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ignacio Ignacio Vázquez Borges
Date of death:
2017-12-02
74 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Cancer patient. When hurricane Irma hit, he had already performed some medical tests. When hurricane Maria hit, he was supposed to get his tests results, but the laboratories and medical offices were closed. His oncologist contacted the laboratory to obtain the results. But the tests results took a long time to arrive. After hurricane Maria, he was hospitalized for a month at San Pablo hospital in Bayamón, the only one available. He had some problems breathing. They performed a tracheotomy so he could breathe, while his chemotherapy drugs arrived. After four weeks, finally the drugs arrived. He was transferred to the Cancer Hospital of San Juan. He got chemotherapy and was discharged. The next day he had to be hospitalized again and remained hospitalized until he died three weeks later.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Wanda Rivas Ocasio
Date of death:
2017-11-30
62 years old
Place of death: Naguabo
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane; damages caused by the hurricane; lack of electricity; lack of water or food; lack of medical attention; lack of access to communications. Her brother found her dead before November, sitting in a chair inside her trailer.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Rafaela Hernández Lozada
Date of death:
2017-09-27
69 years old
Place of death: Gurabo
Official cause of death: Complications of medical and surgical care
What happened: There was no power. The air conditioning did not work. They could not turn on the feeding machine and feeding her manually was very difficult. There was no way to refrigerate food, no water either. The entire body was compromised and collapsed.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Cándida Negrón León
Date of death:
2017-11-02
94 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: In our community we were allowed to plug her medical equipment during the day to the building's power generator. At night, she couldn't connect her equipment. Her health condition worsened to the point she could not breathe properly. On Oct. 20, she was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia and CO2 retention. She was already diagnosed with some chronic conditions and needed breathing therapy. In addition, she needed BiPAP therapy every night. Two weeks later, she moved to my house. Her condition deteriorated.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Antonio José Dávila Motta
Date of death:
2018-03-16
20 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: It happened on a farm that was destroyed by the hurricane. He almost finished his work cleaning up the debris and cutting pine trees. He was supposed to work three more days on that farm. His boss wanted him to knock down all the pine trees. One of pine trees fell down and hit his chest. While he fell to the ground, he fractured his skull. His ear was also hurt. I think he died from a hurricane-related death because he would not have died if he have didn't have to work on the farm after the hurricane. I want his death to be counted.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Gilberto López Mejías
Date of death:
2017-09-28
77 years old
Place of death: Vega Baja
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The hospital suffered a lot of damage. He had already been hospitalized and he spent the hurricane in a home of the elderly. During the hurricane, he removed his oxygen because we was very nervous. The tension of everything affected him a lot and worsened his condition. In the hospital, they were not prepared for the care he needed. His lungs collapsed.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Nathan Javier Rodríguez Vázquez
Date of death:
2017-10-04
0 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period
What happened: My baby was born premature at 29 weeks on July 26, 2017. He had recovered satisfactorily and even on Friday after the hurricane, he no longer needed the breathing machine. Several days later he needed again the breathing machine, given that there was so much moisture. He began to have secretions in his right lung. Every day he needed more and more oxygen therapy. On Oct. 2, his right lung had collapsed. On Oct. 4, my baby no longer resisted and died. He was recovered, but after the hurricane, the hospital didn't have electricity, allowing mold to grow and affecting my baby's lungs.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Felipe Figueroa Rosa
Date of death:
2017-10-15
84 years old
Place of death: Arroyo
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My father was diagnosed with sleep apnea and needed a breathing machine. That day he woke up in the middle of the night because he could not breathe. We tried to connect the breathing machine to our neighbor's power generator but it was too late. We called 911 three times. The ambulance never arrived. He had slept several days without his breathing machine because he didn't have a power generator. He died because of the lack of the electricity.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Roberto Ramos Colón
Date of death:
2017-10-18
34 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Complications of medical and surgical care
What happened: He needed mechanical ventilation, but couldn't use it because of the blackout. We couldn't buy gas. We didn't have money.
Source: Interview with family
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Ernesto Alfredo Curiel Barreras
Date of death:
2017-10-29
60 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The power generator at his building collapsed and the elevators were not working. His insulin had to be refrigerated at the administrative offices of the building. He needed to go up and down 10 floors using the stairs, even though he had diabetes and only 15 percent of his heart function. He was admitted to a hospital twice in October. The first time, he was suffering dehydration. The second time, he had a syncope with respiratory and kidney conditions that caused his death. He was waiting for a humanitarian flight to the United States but that never happened. He also suffered from asthma and pneumonia.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Aurea Encarnacion Fernández
Date of death:
2017-12-03
76 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: A day after the hurricane my mom fell and broke her hip. Surgery was not possible until nine days later. She caught a bacterial infection in her wound and died from sepis. She was transferred to a hospital in Hato Rey, after trying to transfer her to other hospitals. During the surgery we were told that she could catch bacteria because the operating room could be not completely disinfected. And so, she caught bacteria. All her organs stopped working. Eventually she had a respiratory arrest.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Blanca Yris García Ramírez
Date of death:
2017-10-07
83 years old
Place of death: San Germán
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Massive stroke caused by high blood pressure and a rise in sugar levels. Health condition aggravated by worry, uncertanty and lack of basis services (power, water, communications) after hurricane. Before the stroke, she showed a lot of anxiety. There was poor access to 911, they took so much time to get services, hospitals were closed after the stroke.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Astrid Milagros Ojeda Ojeda
Date of death:
2017-12-06
70 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane. She didn't have electricity and she couldn't have a generator because she lived in public housing.
Source: Interview with family
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Eloína Dolores Collar Vázquez
Date of death:
2018-02-12
86 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Cancer patient. Her health condition worsened because of the blackouts, the fumes from then neighbor's power generator, and debris in front of the house for more than four months. Her quality of life was completely gone. She got depressed, lowering her defenses.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Julia Muñoz Román
Date of death:
2017-10-05
76 years old
Place of death: Río Grande
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: My mother needed oxygen seven days a week. Our power generator got damaged. There was no way to get a new power generator or replacement parts. She used to set the oxygen at level 10 because she had lung cancer. Given that there was an oxygen shortage, I was told to lower my mom's level to 2 or 4 because it was not possible to get new supplies.I had no communication with the hospice or nurses, there was no road access. I told them about the oxygen and the generator, which was not working. I was told that the oxygen was rationed because Puerto Rico was running out of oxygen. The nurse later called but did not come. We felt emotionally affected while seeing our mom running out of air. Local officials could not help us. She struggled three in agony and then died, she died in my arms.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Irma Valentín Cordero
Date of death:
2017-11-25
61 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: She went seven days after the hurricane without receiving dialysis therapy. This situation made her health condition worse. After the hurricane there were a lot of deaths at the regional hospital in Manati. Every time a blackout happened, several people died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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José Luis Román Meléndez
Date of death:
2017-12-04
65 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: With no support from the hospice after the hurricane, no running water or electricity, it became more difficult to take care of my father's hygiene and diet. I think he was concerned about the shortage of resources and he did not want to eat. I saw him very worried and sad. He had Parkinson's disease that decreased his ability to move and speak. The hurricane had a huge emotional impact on him. I was in Hato Rey starting a temporary job in a call center when my brother told me that daddy had died. Beyond the effects of Hurricane Maria, I would say that the medical care was poor. He had hospice services, but after the hurricane they were temporarily interrupted. It was a heavy burden to my mom.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ramona Enid González Muñoz
Date of death:
2017-10-20
59 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Since there was no electricity, she could not use some of the medical equipment she needed, like her oxygen machine, air condionioning, and air mattress. Her bedsores got worse because of the heat. She couldn't breathe properly. Her health condition deteriorated continously leading to her death.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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José Antonio Colón López
Date of death:
2017-10-22
67 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Missed dialysis therapy caused by lack of electricity. Depressive disorder at home caused by the blackout. He needed dialysis, but after the hurricane he was given fewer hours. I believe his body was poisoned because the lack of dialysis and all that contributed to what happened. It was because of that.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Orlando López Martínez
Date of death:
2017-10-10
48 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Inadequate medical treatment at hospital. Complications of dialysis therapy. He needed to travel to Aguadilla to receive dialysis therapy, but the therapy lasted only two hours. He was already very sick, but his condition worsened. I heard that he went into respiratory arrest and he was taken to the clinic, the day after the doctor told him that he would be discharged. He didn't agree and was upset yelling that he would die. The day after, he went into respiratory arrest and died while connected to a dialysis machine.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Sara Ivette Rivera Betancourt
Date of death:
2018-02-03
82 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Sara was living in a nursing home where Hurricane Maria caused damage. We transferred her to another nursing home. Her treatment for high blood pressure and diabetes was interrupted during that time. When she came back to her original nursing home, things were out of control, causing her a heart attack. We had to move her to another place and at that time her doctor, who was in Cayey, didn't see her. She was a diabetic patient and had high blood pressure. As a consequence of the hurricane devastation, she fell in depression. There was no electricity only a power generator.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Rosaura Roque Santiago
Date of death:
2017-10-29
91 years old
Place of death: Guaynabo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: She was bedridden and didn't have air conditioning. It was even difficult to get oxygen. Given the blackouts after the hurricane, she couldn't have air conditioning, the air mattress or the mechanical ventilation anymore. The air mattress was constanly deflating and new bedsores appeared. The hurricane's effects aggravated her condition and she didin't even want to eat, that's why doctors introduced a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, but she didn't tolerate it. She was in hospice care.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Manuel Lorenzo González
Date of death:
2017-10-31
89 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: He was a patient with Alzheimer's disease, among other health conditions. He felt hopeless because he didn't have running water or electricity and did not understand the situation. Hopelessness led his blood pressure to rise, causing a stroke on his way to the hospital.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Modesta Isabel Arámburu Morales
Date of death:
2017-09-23
85 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Blackouts caused uncomfortable conditions for her. She was concerned after the hurricane, and one time she said “I know all the sacrifice you're making.” Getting a funeral home was a terrible task. Police helped us look for a funeral home that was open. Her relatives had to wait one month for her ashes.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Carmen María Lozada Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-28
97 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My grandmother suffered from senile dementia and this condition led to breathing problems. She needed a breathing machine and oxygen therapy. After Hurricane María and the lack of electricity, her condition worsened.We made some arrangements to buy a power generator in the US mainland, but it arrived after she died. Having no oxygen and no electricity, she went into respiratory arrest at home and died on her way to hospital.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ángel Luis Dávila Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-12-08
33 years old
Place of death: Las Piedras
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
What happened: After the hurricane passed, he started feeling depressed. He had no job, had said he wanted to escape the problems, but he did not know how to face it.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Felinio Castro Lugo
Date of death:
2017-09-25
77 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Due to the lack of electricity and/or damage to various medical institutions, he could not receive dialysis. This caused complications that ultimately led to his death. His condition worsened; the deterioration was very evident from not having the medical service.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Víctor Hernández Serra
Date of death:
2017-10-26
80 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: He woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't see properly because of the blackout, then he slipped, fell down on the ground and broke his skull. Don Víctor could not be treated at a hospital in Coamo or the hospital in San Lucas. When he arrived to the hospital in San Cristobal, there were too many people and there was no capacity to treate him. They gave him painkillers until he died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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José Luis Morales Septiembre
Date of death:
2018-01-13
69 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: He needed permanent oxygen therapy, which blackouts interrupted. The therapy was provided only twice a day using a local power generator. I used to turn it on from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and then turned it on again from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am.
Source: Response to online survey
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Patricia Nicole Figueroa Colón
Date of death:
2018-01-03
18 years old
Place of death: Dorado
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: She was crossing the road and the driver did not see her because of the lack of street lighting, and did not stop because the traffic lights didn't work. The impact was fatal. She was not taken to a hospital. She died on the scene.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Francisco Manuel González Ortega
Date of death:
2017-10-06
98 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Due to the lack of power, he fell down while going to the bathroom in the darkness. He tripped over, fell, and broke his neck on the toilet. He died instantly.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Florencia Rosado Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-16
77 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: The patient was receiving CPR when the electric system failed. When the power was restored, she couldn't be revived, and died. She had been admitted to hospital because of a stroke two days before the hurricane and it was there that she was connected for the first time to a breathing machine.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Olga Idalia Vega Ramos
Date of death:
2017-11-15
82 years old
Place of death: Jayuya
What happened: She fell from the toilet and her head hit with a the wall. That caused a stroke. The accident happened on day 15. She arrvied at the hospital still conscious. When we came to the hospital to see her, she was already intubated. Two days later she was pronounced dead.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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José Santiago Meléndez Ramírez
Date of death:
2017-12-22
61 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: A change in diet, dehydration, anxiety, and extreme heat. We moved to another apartment with electricity but it was too late. He already had mesothelioma, diagnosed in March 2015. Not having proper temperature and adequate food aggravated his condition. It was a nightmare. He had to eat whatever materialized. The food he used to eat, vegetables, were not available. We had water but no electricity. It was a continuous stress. I had to take him to another apartment. Hurricane Maria did not kill him but sped up his condition.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ángel Gabriel Lozada Otero
Date of death:
2017-10-19
77 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: My dad was hospitalized and intubated in Manatí Medical Center when the power generator collapsed. He was transferred to Mayagüez in an ambulance. This transfer aggravated his health condition. After Hurricane Maria, we didn't have electricity and hospitals worked with power generators. The power generator of Manatí collapsed while he was in intensive care and intubated. The doctors called me to transfer him from the emergency to Puero Rico Medical Center. But that day the power generator there collapsed, too. Then he was transferred to Mayagüez, a two-hour ride, because there was no air ambulance. There my daddy worsenend. In Mayagüez nothing happened, I asked to transfer him back to Manatí where his doctor was working. He died a day later. My family does not rule out that the death was caused by renal failure and respiratory arrest but he was not admitted to hospital with kidney failure.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Encarnación Bayron Soto
Date of death:
2017-10-19
93 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Since there was no electricity at the nursing home, there was no air conditioning, causing a sore on her back to worsen. The massage mattress she needed to improve the blood circulation was not working either after the hurricane. She caught a blood infection at the hospital caused by the sore. After two weeks the patient died at Doctor's Hospital.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Silvia Yolanda Correa Mejías
Date of death:
2017-10-18
90 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Her condition was stable. But after Hurricane Maria, the staff at the nursing home only turned the power generator on four hours at night, even though some patients needed a stable and controlled temperature. They turned on a fan in front of bedridden patients, so she caught pneumonia. But doctors wrote down several causes in the certificate of death. She died because the nursing home did not handle the situation properly. They should have had an alternate generator and the needed fuel. In total three people died in that facility. Each person has the their time to die, but it would not have been my mom's if she had had proper care. Mismanagement precipitated events.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Cruz Awilda Rosario Santos
Date of death:
2017-10-30
70 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: After Hurricane Maria hit we didn't have electricity for a month. After 15 days, my mommy started to wash clothes. She was a diabetic patient, had peripheral neuropathy and she couldn't feel her feet. After a nail accidentally stuck in her foot we took her to the hospital. She was admitted to intensive care unit and then died. She stayed hospitalized for a week.
Source: Interview with family
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Santa Avilés Torres
Date of death:
2017-12-05
89 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She lost her home. At my house she had no running water or electricity. She needed therapies twice a day and many other treatments for her health condition. She was 89, had her diabetes was under control and was stable. But she got depressed after losing her home after hurricane Maria. She did not want to eat. Every day she asked me about her house. We told her the truth, we didn't lie. After the hurricane she stayed in bed. She was consumed. At the nursing home, she had a power generator and care but she got depressed. The doctor said she was in a severe depression. I wanted to take her back home once I again had electricity and water, but she died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Monserrate Chaparro Pérez
Date of death:
2017-12-06
85 years old
Place of death: Aguada
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: She was a patient with emphysema. Since there was no electricity, it was neccesary to use a power generator to provide her therapy four times a day. But the generator was overloaded. She also needed drugs and an oxygen concentrator. All these things had a high cost. Ther was no electricity or water and her condition worsened. The toxic gases from the generator made it more and more difficult to breathe. Sometimes it was very difficult to get medicines and keep the insulin refrigerated. Sometimes we had to throw out some insulin because the lack of electricity.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Carlos Antonio Torres Otero
Date of death:
2018-01-18
67 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Sleep apnea aggravated by hurricane effects.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Rafael Rivera Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-08
55 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: I think he died because of the hurricane crisis. He was not a sick person, had no problems, was not diabetic. He was waiting for a cardiovascular test at the hospital, becacuse he had some kind of discomfort in his chest and ran out of breath. The appointment was cancelled due to the hurricane. While waiting for the new appointment, he had the heart attack while cutting a tree to improve access.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Francisco Berrios Berrios
Date of death:
2017-10-12
70 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: An indirect death caused by conditions created by the hurricane. I'd say it was not directly, but indirectly, because outside his home a hillside collapsed and a lot of dust got inside the house. He was already feeling bad before the hurricane, with breathing difficulties. He was treated before the hurricane. Still, he decided to stay home. He was hospitalized after we insisted on it and after five days, he died. I think his death was related to the hurricane because the dust affected him.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ramón Ruiz Maldonado
Date of death:
2017-09-26
77 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Didn't have adequate healthcare treatment. He died from respiratory arrest. Before the hurricane, he had respiratory failure due to phlegm retention.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Rafael Villegas Jiménez
Date of death:
2017-11-08
78 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids
What happened: He was in a psychiatric institution where he got a lung infection caused by some bacteria and mold due to the blackouts that interrupted the air conditioning. Then he was admitted at Hospital Universitario, where he stayed intubated during a week. He recovered and didn't even need the mechanical ventilation anymore, but days later his relatives were told he died. The physician said that after recovering, he caught a fungal infection in the blood from a hypodermic needle. The fungus was inoculated directly into the blood, leading to a sepsis. The doctor said that the contamination was casused by unstable electric power.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Elba Isabel González Aponte
Date of death:
2017-09-25
70 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: After the hurricane, she stayed at her house without power and got ill. Elba used an oxygen machine and was fed through the stomach. Due to the lack of electricity she began coughing blood. There was no communication. Someone went to the police station for help. Police said there was no way to communicate with the ambulance. When they returned to the house she had died. She went into respiratory arrest. Police told us to come to see her. My dad had to pay a private doctor to certify her death, so that we could move her body to the funeral home. I think she died due to lack of electricity because she couldn't use her oxygen machine.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Carmen Teresa Rosado Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-11-09
72 years old
Place of death: Naranjito
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: She was in a shelter, since her wooden house didn't have an electric generator. Given her health condition, she needed to be connected to oxygen and a gastrostomy tube. A blackout affected the shelter and the institution lost communication. She died because she couldn't stay connected to the oxygen and feeding tube.
Source: Interview with family
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Josefa Chaves Reverol
Date of death:
2017-09-29
92 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: My grandmother was not wearing clothes because of the heat. She was hospitalized since Hurricane Irma. There she had a good medical treatment, in spite the chaotic environment caused by the blackout. Maybe it was time for her to die. But the situation of the country aggravated her own. What I experienced there (in the hospital) made me feel a deep pain.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Cerelda Rodríguez Olmeda
Date of death:
2017-10-14
84 years old
Place of death: Hormigueros
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: I think it was a combination of factors. I saw her the day before and she was fine. She lived with my brother who always left her some food when he went to work. When he returned, he found her dead. I believe stress, lack of medical care... and her schedules were changed. We don't know if she had her insulin at the right time.
Source: Interview with family
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Margarita Luna Luna
Date of death:
2017-11-03
80 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: A month after being admitted to hospital, she died by sepsis. She arrived at the hospital three days after hurricane with a swollen knee caused by cellulitis. She spent a month in the hospital and really did not receive medical attention. Doctors were doing other things and did not treat her. Medical care was negligent. She arrived safely at the hospital, but did not get proper attention.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ángela Julia Matías Cure
Date of death:
2017-12-31
79 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Missing therapies because of lack of electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Edwin Adorno Pantoja
Date of death:
2018-01-18
79 years old
Place of death: Vega Alta
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Edwin didn't have electricity since Hurricane Irma. His wife (my mother) had several health conditions and needed oxygen, CPAP, and breathing machine to live. My dad kept alternating two generators to keep my mom comfortable. Around January 14, he caught asthmatic bronchitis caused by gases from the power generators. The stress caused by all this situation led him to an embolism and die.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Rizell Hanna Mutt Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-09-20
41 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: As a consequence of the lack of electricity she didn't have respiratory support. She was hospitalized because she had a kidney condition. After the hurricane, the hospital didn't have electricity, which she needed for her mechanical ventilation. Patients were moved to the basement of the building where there were power generators, but there were still some failures. They spent eight days without being able to communicate with the hospital. Her body spent eight days in the morgue and no funeral could be held. She was cremated.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Alejandro González Vázquez
Date of death:
2017-10-20
47 years old
Place of death: Hormigueros
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
What happened: As a result of the social crisis created by the effects of Hurricane Maria, Alejandro's mental illness deteriorated to the point of threatening his own life. He had gone to the United States two months before the hurricane. He decided to return to Puerto Rico because he knew nothing of his family and wanted to help after hurricane. After coming back to the island, he spent two weeks without taking his medications. The night he was supposed to return to the United States, he committed suicide. I think he was very affected by everything he saw here after the hurricane.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Jorge Félix Rodríguez Dávila
Date of death:
2017-09-24
76 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Lack of electricity
Source: Interview with family
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Carmen Cuevas Ruiz
Date of death:
2017-12-13
90 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: Given she was beddriden, she developed an ulcer and after the hurricane, without air conditioning, her condition worsened and was affected by bacteria. On November 8 she was hospitalized and had surgery. The doctor told me she need to take antibiotics for more than 50 days. She was discharged but the conditions at home were not the best because there was no running water or electricity. That's why I took her to the old age home. She died on December 13.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ferdinand Anastacio Rosas Fernández
Date of death:
2017-11-12
89 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My dad was greatly distressed to see Puerto Rico destroyed. Daddy fell into depression. When he left my house after the hurricane and saw the wreckage, he said it seemed like the war in Korea. He started to cry. And he said: “Puerto Rico is like Korea, this will not resurface again.” He arrived at the hospital because he started getting dizzy and was hospitalized because his sodium levels dropped. He was admitted on Monday and between Saturday and Sunday he was already dead. The night he died, he told me and my partner: “Please go, I love you so much.” And at three o'clock in the morning, he had a heart attack. He did not want to keep living because of the hurricane.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Carlos Manuel Pagán Otero
Date of death:
2017-11-22
65 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Dialysis patient who suffered a cardiac arrest during the hurricane. He was not transferred to a hospital because a fallen pole blocked the way. Finally he was transferred to the hospital several days later, after five days with heart failure.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Salustiano Bolirin Almedina
Date of death:
2017-10-07
94 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: There was no electricity in all Cayey. He felt sick and was taken to Mennonite Hospital, which was working with a power generator. Once there he was evaluated and thay said that all was good. He was discharged and coming back home, he left the car and died. The granddaughters went back to the Mennonite Hospital, where the doctor on duty who had seen Salustiano had already left. The doctor who was on duty at that time certified the death as “heart attack.” However, because no autopsy was done, the relatives don't know the specific causes of death.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Juan Ramón Davis Herrera
Date of death:
2018-01-07
79 years old
Place of death: Fajardo
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Depression is very common among the elderly. They stop eating and drinking water when they don't have a way to get it.
Source: Response to online survey
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Félix Juan Toro Jiménez
Date of death:
2018-01-14
66 years old
Place of death: Juana Díaz
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
What happened: He committed suicide after being depressed because of the loss of his home, an assistance denial from FEMA, and the lack of electricity over the last four months.
Source: Response to online survey
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Cecilio Rivera Maldonado
Date of death:
2018-03-23
86 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He was discharged on December 18 , but could not return home due to lack of electricity. The Hospital Universitario did not allow to transfer the patient to the Hospital Cardiovascular. We were forbidden to continue bringing him food help with his bedsore even when nurses could not do it. It was horrible. He developed such serious injuries that his heel bone was exposed. One tendon of his right foot was also exposed; back bone, exposed. Undescribable. Unspeakable. He really wanted to live. We were told that he had lived his life, that we had to accept the law of life, as if the elderly were not entitled to live. As if they were disposable. Unspeakable.
Source: Response to online survey
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Víctor Hernández Vicens
Date of death:
2018-04-04
65 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He fell down while cutting a tree damaged by the hurricane. His cause of death is indirectly related to hurricane.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juan González Mercado
Date of death:
2018-04-07
84 years old
Place of death: Moca
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He was a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He needed theraphy several times a day. Having no electricity, he could not have the therapies. We, his family, did our best to give him them to him, but he could not walk properly, so he needed all the resources at home. He died due to lack of air while asking to go to the bathroom. The lack of electricity made it impossible for him to receive all his treatments.
Source: Response to online survey
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Víctor Antonio García Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-24
67 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane; depression.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Rubén Fontanez Torres
Date of death:
2017-09-21
43 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The morning after hurricane María he began to feel bad. We called 911, which did not answer. He took him the Mennonite Hospital in Aguas Buenas where a lady, maybe the secretary, along with two men, who seemed like paramedics, said there was no staff to see him, or electricity. They also said the the hospital was supposed to be flooded. His brother took him in his own car to Mennonite Hospital in Caguas. On his way, his brother gave him first aid inside the car and they continued to the hospital in Caguas, where they gave him medical care and certified his death.
Source: Response to online survey
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Jaime Humberto Escudero Maymi
Date of death:
2017-09-24
94 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Because of pulmonary disease, Jaime occasionally needed oxygen. On the fourth day after the hurricane, he started having trouble breathing and could not receive oxygen because of the lack of electricity and health care, due to lost of communications and difficult access to the house. Jaime died of asphyxiation.
Source: Response to online survey
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Heriberto Vega Vázquez
Date of death:
2017-09-22
40 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: He couldn't get dialysis, and he went to Mennonite Hospital in Guayama. He died in the emergency room, waiting to get dialysis in the hospital because of the hurricane.
Source: Response to online survey
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Reinaldo González Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-22
54 years old
Place of death: Villalba
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricaine.
Source: Interview with family
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Héctor Manuel Sánchez Solís
Date of death:
2017-10-12
77 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: His house was flooded. He was soaked for hours after the hurricane broke the glass door in the room, and destroyed all the panels he had placed on the windows. He spent five or six hours hiding with his wife in the bathroom with water on the floor. He got pneumonia. He was hospitalized for nine days in the Mennonite Hospital of Caguas. He died at his home from respiratory failure on October 12. He needed oxygen therapy. There was no electricity and the electric generator collapsed.
Source: Response to online survey
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Neftalí Rodríguez Vecchini
Date of death:
2017-09-26
80 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: He had pneumonia and no portable oxygen to take it home. He could not stay in the hospital because there was no electricity or running water or food and the doctor was afraid that he could catch another infection.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ramona Cruz Meléndez
Date of death:
2017-10-05
73 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane. She was at a hospital during the hurricane. The day she was supposed to be discharged she died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Lydia Rivera Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-09
68 years old
Place of death: Aibonito
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: My mother had a condition: a stone in the bile duct. She needed surgery in order to avoid sepis. Her appointment was scheduled for the day of the hurricane. The appointment was posponed but was never rescheduled as San Juan services and access were bad. She died on October 9 after several days in the hospital.
Source: Response to online survey
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María Zenaida Fontanez Rosario
Date of death:
2017-10-20
79 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane; damages caused by the hurricane; lack of medical care; lack of access to communications. Lacking communications, since the hurricane ripped cell phone towers, she couldn't get in touch with her relatives abroad. Not having power, she could not use the elevator to get down from her house.
Source: Response to online survey
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Isabel Rivera González
Date of death:
2017-10-15
80 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Medical procedures or exams that weren't performed.
Source: Interview with family
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José Enrique Santiago Garriga
Date of death:
2017-10-23
33 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: After becoming fatigued by overworking at the jail in Las Cucharas, in Ponce, he fell after having an apparent heart attack, but he was denied medical services. He was taken to hospital and was pronounced dead. They have not yet given the results of the autopsy.
Source: Response to online survey
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Herminia Méndez Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-14
80 years old
Place of death: Moca
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: She did not die of Alzheimer's. Her son found her unconscious at home. When he could the next day, he went to the barracks and got an ambulance and took her to the hospital San Carlos (Borromeo) in Moca. From there they wanted to send her to the Medical Center, but there was no power or water there either. She died of a stroke, not Alzheimer's. In other circumstances, she would not have died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Solín Rosa Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-07
79 years old
Place of death: Lares
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He was a dialysis patient in Manatí, at the Doctor's Center hospital. According to my aunt, he could not be taken from Lares to Manatí to receive dialysis therapy. The treatment used to be three times a week.
Source: Response to online survey
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Bibiano Lazu Moctezuma
Date of death:
2017-09-22
77 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
What happened: It seems that taking advantage of the blackout, he was killed during a robbery and then they made it appear as a suicide.
Source: Response to online survey
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Alfredo Rodríguez Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-11-25
92 years old
Place of death: San Sebastián
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane; lack of electricity. He and his wife went to their relatives' house during the hurricane. He woke up to go to the bathroom, he tripped and hit his head.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ángela Luciano Reyes
Date of death:
2017-12-10
81 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Severe depression due to lack of electricity, changes in the daily routine, the adjustable bed was not working, heat.
Source: Response to online survey
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Lillian Margarita Altagracia Rafaela Fiol Fiallo
Date of death:
2017-12-08
95 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: The hospice where Lillian Fiol Fiallo was treated could not open for three months. Her condition deteriorated until she died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Alberto Adorno Hernández
Date of death:
2017-12-10
46 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He was diabetic, had high blood pressure, and always had a heart condition. The hurricane affected him greatly because he didn't have a car to go shopping. He also needed medication, but his doctor was on vacation. He went to another doctor for a prescription but he was refused. The rest of the week he was feeling worse and worse until he was taken to the emergency room on Friday. He died early on Sunday.
Source: Response to online survey
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Iraida De Jesús Linares
Date of death:
2017-11-26
79 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: With no electricity, her air pad and air conditioning could not be used. She was bedridden.
Source: Response to online survey
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Olga Iris Rivera De León
Date of death:
2017-10-11
64 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: Olga used to take dialysis twice a week. Given that dialysis centers had no electricity, her therapies were limited to once a week and occasionally she spent weeks without her dialysis.
Source: Response to online survey
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Felícita Marrero Marrero
Date of death:
2017-11-24
96 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Due to lack of electricity, the air mattress did not work. The patient developed sores all over her body that caused infection. There was no ventilation. The sores got infected because of the lack of air conditioning. The patient died from respiratory arrest.
Source: Response to online survey
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Primitivo Méndez Nieves
Date of death:
2017-10-16
92 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: He lost his home during the hurricane. He didn't even want to eat or drink anything. The heat was high due to the lack of electricity. He was falling into depression. We called the ambulance and he was hospitalized for heart failure and dehydration. Two and a half weeks later, he died from respiratory arrest.
Source: Response to online survey
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Felícita Hernández Claudio
Date of death:
2017-10-16
92 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Sepsis. She developed a bedsore because the mattress and the electric bed did not work without electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Aquilio Soto Pérez
Date of death:
2017-10-06
58 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane; lack of electricity and medical care; medical procedures or exams could not be performed. He collapsed after having dialysis therapy and remained six days in a coma until the death.
Source: Response to online survey
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Miguel Ángel Ocasio Benítez
Date of death:
2017-11-07
87 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Bedridden patient. The lack of electricity forced us to take him to the hospital. During the transfer he caught pneumonia.
Source: Response to online survey
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Eva Milagros Cruz Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-02
19 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: She needed mechanical ventilation. After the blackout, her lungs collapsed.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Manuel Vélez Ruiz
Date of death:
2017-10-01
69 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He needed therapy to treat asthma but had no electricity for using the machine therapy.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juanita Otero Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-30
71 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Peritoneal dialysis patient. She was treated at home. She could not have dialysis done properly.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carmen Laura Rivera Cruz
Date of death:
2017-12-27
78 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She died as a consequence of the situation. She couldn't keep her medication refrigerated; lack of electricity and money.
Source: Response to online survey
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Leonor Soto Barreto
Date of death:
2017-10-22
77 years old
Place of death: Moca
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: After the hurricane, the lack of food, water, the loss of her room, and belongings and other situations caused her to fall into depression with panic attacks. High blood sugar, high blood pressure.
Source: Response to online survey
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Blanca Gloria Talavera Bonet
Date of death:
2017-11-14
94 years old
Place of death: Vega Baja
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: The roof was damaged and started leaking, causing pneumonia.
Source: Response to online survey
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Eladia Dávila
Date of death:
2017-11-15
79 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Cardiorespiratory failure. CPAP patient who needed permanent mechanical ventilation, which does not work without power.
Source: Response to online survey
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Alma Quiles
Date of death:
2017-09-24
76 years old
Place of death: Peñuelas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She didn't have electricity and his health condition worsened.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ana Luisa Nieto Mercado
Date of death:
2017-09-29
73 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: Troubles with dialysis therapies. Unavailable doctors. Blocked roads and curfews.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Manuel Fuentes Soto
Date of death:
2017-10-28
60 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Her health was compromised because there was no electricity to keep insulin refrigerated.
Source: Response to online survey
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Raúl Nieves Ross
Date of death:
2017-11-05
73 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: In situ neoplasms, benign neoplasms and neoplasms of uncertain or unknown behavior
What happened: Lack of electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Sergia Brunilda Mártir Cruz
Date of death:
2017-10-09
78 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: My mother suffered a fall outside her home as she was waiting for food and removing debris from the front of house. She hit her head and went into a coma. She died 11 days later.
Source: Response to online survey
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Sahara Antonia Maisonet Morales
Date of death:
2017-09-27
81 years old
Place of death: Vega Baja
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: The oppressive heat, the lack of electricity to provide her with fresh or cold air. She had high blood pressure and was providing care to a bedridden person. She was stressed and did not have resources or even a way to communicate to ask for help. Even two days before her death, we spent a lot of time trying to buy a propane cylinder so that she could cook. She and my mother had tried countless times to call to get oxygen tanks for my grandfather but that was impossible.
Source: Response to online survey
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Estervina Torres Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-02
90 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Estervina suffered from Alzheimer's. She was bedridden and 91 years old, but the lack of light and water affected her quality of life. She died a week after Maria.
Source: Interview with family
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Vicenta Hernández Guzmán
Date of death:
2017-09-22
90 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The oxygen (both tanks, the large one and the small one) ran out. A neighbor gave me electricity for four hours. An hour and 50 minutes after the therapy, she died from lack of oxygen. We waited 11 hours before her body was picked up from the house and then we waited 10 days to bury her. It was horrible. I accept her death, but not the way it happened (without air). There is something inside me that will not heal and it is the trauma I had. No communication, the long waiting to bury my dead mother, the lack of gasoline because it was all gone. Finally I said goodbye to my mother from outside the cemetery because the Health Department didn't allow us to be close to her tombstone in order to avoid mosquitoes bites.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ángel William Ávila Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-11-08
80 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My dad was staying temporarily in a nursing home. After the hurricane they asked urgently through Facebook for water because the elderly at the nursing home were dehydrated. After a month or a little later, they call me to say that my dad died. When I asked what happened, they told me that my dad's feet got swollen and they gave him a diuretic. He fell ill and died. He lasted several days with swollen feet.
Source: Response to online survey
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Alexánder Álvarez Barreiro
Date of death:
2017-09-20
35 years old
Place of death: Not collected
What happened: My brother disappeared on September 20. On October 26, 2017 at kilometer 33.4, below the Vega Alta expressway, a body was found. It was not recovered until the 30th, because it was in an area that was difficult to access. When we found out, we talked to an agent in Vega Baja and he told us that “he appeared to have been dragged by a blow of water.” After more than five months of waiting for the results of a DNA test, forensic science called to give us to say they were positive. We still don’t know the causes of his death but we thought it was due to being dragged by a blow of water.
Source: Interview with family
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Wilfredo Morales Rosado
Date of death:
2018-01-08
69 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: Complications due to lack of proper medical attention and electricity to run oxygen machine in hospitals. The patient toured several hospitals.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Genoveva Placa Hernández
Date of death:
2017-09-25
79 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Alexánder Viera Maldonado
Date of death:
2017-09-25
42 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
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Leonida Díaz Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-05
84 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
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Luis Felipe Carrión Soberal
Date of death:
2017-10-02
83 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Elvin Misael Mitchell Pérez
Date of death:
2017-10-05
43 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Depression.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Abigaíl Marzán Dávila
Date of death:
2017-10-16
70 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Lack of oxygen for sleep apnea patient due to lack of electricity. The 911 team could not resuscitate her because their tools were uncharged.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Domingo Matos Acevedo
Date of death:
2017-09-27
79 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He was hospitalized because of the lack of electricity. His condition deteriorated.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Oscar Ayala Meléndez
Date of death:
2017-10-19
51 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Due to the lack of communication, the ambulance did not arrive on time.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Diana Santiago García
Date of death:
2017-10-16
52 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: Leptospirosis three weeks after the hurricane.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Carmen Lydia Ramos Contreras
Date of death:
2017-10-23
64 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
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Víctor Modesto López Amaral
Date of death:
2017-10-05
91 years old
Place of death: Las Piedras
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: There were no inpatient services.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Julia María Roldán Dávila
Date of death:
2017-10-18
77 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: A test to check a brain tumor was not done because of the preparations for the hurricane. In addition, the diabetes condition was aggravated by lack of electricity.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Fernando Luis Buxeda Amadeo
Date of death:
2017-10-12
70 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Nutritional deficiencies
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Félix Irán Pérez Méndez
Date of death:
2017-10-25
87 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: He climbed up a ladder with a machete to untangle the electric cable. He fell and died.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Aixa López García
Date of death:
2017-11-21
67 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: A heart attack caused by high blood pressure as a consequence of lack of medical care and medicines, and the negligence of the state and federal governments.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Helena Sepúlveda Rivas
Date of death:
2017-11-13
86 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Heriberto González Martínez
Date of death:
2017-11-26
96 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Two days before hurricane Irma, my grandfather was admitted to the hospital because his heart valves were weak and he needed a 30-minute surgery. The surgery was scheduled, but was postponed as a result of the hurricane. He stayed hospitalized three months waiting for the surgery. The operation room didn't have the requested equipment. Finally, he was transferred to another the hospital and the surgery was done, but in less than a week, a pneumonia won the battle.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Dulce María Merced González
Date of death:
2017-11-29
86 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: Her health deteriorated due to the lack of basic services.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Ivette León Buitrago
Date of death:
2017-11-29
54 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Sylvia Castro Alicea
Date of death:
2017-12-20
43 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Israel Ramos Bonilla
Date of death:
2017-09-28
82 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Influenza and pneumonia
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Pedro Juan Barriera Vázquez
Date of death:
2017-09-24
90 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Primitivo Pérez Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-10-02
71 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Luz María González
Date of death:
2017-10-02
89 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Luis Antonio Martínez Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-07
84 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He had a complete decompensation and that week (after Maria) he died. He had many health complications. He died of respiratory arrest. He was developing senile dementia. I could not take it to Veterans.
Source: Interview with family
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Héctor Manuel Ruiz Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-09
70 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Eufracia Irizarry Sayas
Date of death:
2017-09-24
89 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Rafael Leonides Santiago Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-09-24
79 years old
Place of death: Guayanilla
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Felícita Santiago Roche
Date of death:
2017-10-23
58 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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José Antonio García Ramos
Date of death:
2017-10-13
67 years old
Place of death: Guánica
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Doris Figueroa Vega
Date of death:
2017-10-09
89 years old
Place of death: Guayanilla
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
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Carmen Luz Gotay Bermúdez
Date of death:
2017-10-28
92 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids
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Monserrate García Feliciano
Date of death:
2017-10-16
68 years old
Place of death: Hatillo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Concepción Mercado Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-30
89 years old
Place of death: Villalba
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Santos Martínez Friend
Date of death:
2017-11-10
52 years old
Place of death: Guánica
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
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Gloria Matilde Rodríguez De Cancio Palmer
Date of death:
2017-12-09
68 years old
Place of death: Morovis
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
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José Reymundi Ríos
Date of death:
2017-10-07
77 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Alzheimer's patient. Lots of stress and few personnel taking care of him. They called us to report that they would take him to a hospital because he was dehydrated. We opposed that. We signed a letter of release from liability to not remove him. He died seven days later but surrounded by his family.
Source: Response to online survey
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Wilmer Irizarry Irizarry
Date of death:
2017-10-01
47 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV disease
What happened: He could not be taken to the emergency room because there was no electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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David Cruz Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-12
72 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Medical procedures or exams that weren't performed; lack of electricity.
Source: Interview with family
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Roberto Rivera Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-11
80 years old
Place of death: Aibonito
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: The patient needed a cardiac procedure at Medical Center but it could not be done on time.
Source: Response to online survey
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Enrique Suárez Rosa
Date of death:
2017-11-29
42 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He had a liver condition. Due to the lack of food and electricity, he died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Hipólito Figueroa Rivera
Date of death:
2018-01-04
77 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Felícita Delgado Vargas
Date of death:
2018-03-24
99 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Carmen Elena Velázquez
Date of death:
2018-04-01
81 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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María Rivera Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-21
80 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Juana Morales
Date of death:
2017-09-28
76 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Manuel López Heredia
Date of death:
2017-10-03
62 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Septicemia
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Romsy Ramel Romero Ramos
Date of death:
2017-10-05
28 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Patient infected by Leptospirosis. He was discharged twice from emergency rooms.
Source: Response to online survey
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José María Bonilla Ríos
Date of death:
2017-10-27
86 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My father was a healthy and active man. He was admitted to the hospital two days after the hurricane. He was diagnosed with respiratory failure and water inside his lungs. Since there was not enough oxygen at the hospital, in Bayamón, he was transferred to Melendez. At some point, the physician suggested that he should transfer him to the U.S. He started to have some heart problems and died after 36 days in the hospital. During the time I was in Puerto Rico I could only talk to the doctor once. The death certificate said he died by a septic shock.”
Source: Response to online survey
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Alicia Sánchez González
Date of death:
2017-12-01
88 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: She asked for cold water. She was dehydrated and didn't want to eat. The medicines damaged her kidneys because she didn't take it with food, as is required.
Source: Response to online survey
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Consuelo López Méndez
Date of death:
2017-10-27
86 years old
Place of death: Camuy
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: So much heat and no air conditioning aggravated her health condition.
Source: Response to online survey
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Hiram Villanueva Pérez
Date of death:
2017-11-29
76 years old
Place of death: Moca
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: Lack of electricity and access to medical care; medical exams or procedures that were not performed. State of depression because of Maria's devastation. He went to Buen Samaritano Hospital and spent two days under evaluation. The patient was discharged without any diagnosis. Three days later, the patient was taken to Hospital San Carlos, where he had kidney arrest. The patient had never shown signs of kidney failure before his death.
Source: Response to online survey
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Marcelina Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-12-22
83 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Crisis. In October, she got ill and never recovered.
Source: Response to online survey
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Eustaquio Bobones Arnau
Date of death:
2017-12-15
93 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Since there was no electricity, he fell and hit his head. After the fall, his health condition worsened.
Source: Response to online survey
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Rafael García Meléndez
Date of death:
2017-11-14
49 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He got sick on the morning on November 13. He was taken to Menonita hospital in Cidra. He had low blood pressure, low oxygen level, low blood sugar level. His hands and feet were cold and purple. He was dehydrated. There was no food or water. Then he was transferred to a hospital in Cayey, where he was hospitalized all day. He died November 14, at 12:49 in the morning.
Source: Response to online survey
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Monserrate Figueroa Pacheco
Date of death:
2017-09-25
84 years old
Place of death: San Germán
Official cause of death: Parkinsons disease
What happened: My mom had a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and needed to be suctioned. She needed air conditioning 24 hours a day. She began to suffocate. Pavia Yauco hospital didn't have electricity. Based on an order from the governor, public ambulances were not allowed to move. Municipal ambulances only could work to transport patients to the Pavia hospital... I tried to get a private ambulance to transfer my mom to Hospital de la Concepción in San Germán, but they had no diesel or they were not working at all. Finally I paid to take her to the hospital, but 10 minutes later she died due to respiratory arrest, asphyxiated by a phlegm. The death certificate said she died by Parkinson's disease. It is not true. The cause of her death was the hurricane, because if there had been power, she would be still alive.
Source: Response to online survey
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Aída Margarita Del Valle Báez
Date of death:
2017-10-22
88 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Lack of electricity; medical equipment did not work. Bedridden person. Multiple health conditions.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juan Rafael Bonilla Gómez
Date of death:
2017-09-21
88 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My dad was not feeling well a few weeks and days before. Since the passage of Hurricane Irma, he had been feeling shortness of breath. At the beginning of the day, before Hurricane Maria began to whip, according to my best memory and what his wife told me, Papi was feeling bad, with low blood pressure and pulse and anxiety. Then it got worse. 911 was called, but the phones were dead. With the help of some neighbors, they were able to assist him in getting him into the vehicle of one of the neighbors so they could transfer him to a hospital in Yauco. And while he was undergoing surgery in the emergency room, he died. It was key that 911 was not available.
Source: Response to online survey
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José Antonio Pérez Santiago
Date of death:
2017-11-01
55 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: José was using propane cylinders for cooking after hurricane Maria. On October 25, 2017 he carried a cylinder tied with a seat belt to the passenger seat of his car. We believe that he had the cylinder in the car because he needed to refill it. Apparently, the cylinder had a little leak and he lit a cigarette and caught fire inside the car. He was taken to Medical Center with second- and-third degree burns on 64 percent of his body. He was in the stabilization unit for 2 days, and then he was transferred to the Trauma Unit Medical Center for five days, where a few days later he got a blood infection. He died on November 1st.
Source: Response to online survey
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Etervina Rosado Jiménez
Date of death:
2017-09-24
83 years old
Place of death: Dorado
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Patient with gastrostomy who also needed oxygen therapy.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ovidio Ortega Lemus
Date of death:
2017-09-16
86 years old
Place of death: Not collected
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He died while making an extra effort trying to remove water from a flooded room.
Source: Response to online survey
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Agustín Parrilla
Date of death:
2017-10-05
82 years old
Place of death: Fajardo
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Augustín had been admitted to Hospital San Pablo, Fajardo before the hurricane because he had not evacuated for some days and a lump emerged near to his stomach. In addition he had some Alzheimer's disease complicatios. They supplied him serum, oxygen, and other treatments. He was discharged the day before Hurricane Maria, because they said 'they needed to have available beds’ in case of an emergency during the hurricane. Augustín was transferred to another place, where no medical facilities were available to treat him. Two days later he went into respiratory arrest, apparently because he suffocated with his own vomit. We took him back to the hospital but he never recovered. He died on October 5.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Aníbal López Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-11-23
65 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He was a diabetic patient and his health condition got worse after the hurricane because his doctor could not see him. He could not keep his diet appropriately because he didn't have electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Orlando Díaz Natal
Date of death:
2017-10-18
44 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My brother had a heart attack on Saturday before the hurricane. We took him to San Lucas hospital in Ponce, where one of the doctors told us that he needed a stent placement surgery. But first, the doctor should have a meeting with his staff on Tuesday to plan the surgery. That meeting never happened. My brother had to sign the paperwork to leave the hospital because there was no electricity or air conditioning. It was chaos in the hospital. A month later, my brother died. I truly believe his death was caused by Maria and the doctor's negligence, who didn't insert the stent.
Source: Response to online survey
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Gilberto Lugo Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-09-15
66 years old
Place of death: Not collected
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He couldn't keep taking therapies because the schedule changed after the arrival of so many patients.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juan Colón Reyes
Date of death:
2017-10-18
81 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Hernia
What happened: This patient was in the emergency room waiting for a surgery, but no surgeon was available. There were no communications, no electricity, and the roads were in bad condition.
Source: Response to online survey
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Alfredo Vázquez Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-23
80 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: There was no ambulance available to take him to hospital on time.
Source: Response to online survey
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Eufrosina Algarín De Jesús
Date of death:
2017-09-25
80 years old
Place of death: Juana Díaz
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She missed some therapies because of the blackouts.
Source: Response to online survey
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Judith Cubero Sánchez
Date of death:
2017-09-27
73 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Influenza and pneumonia
What happened: She had a tracheotomy and needed mechanical ventilation 24 hours a day and good hygiene. There was no running water at the medical center and the patient's health conditions worsened.
Source: Response to online survey
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Josefa Cerezo Cruz
Date of death:
2017-11-22
94 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Influenza and pneumonia
What happened: She had bronchitis and flu. There was no air conditioning. She died from respiratory complications.
Source: Response to online survey
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Adela Solivan Núñez
Date of death:
2017-10-21
84 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: The lack of electricity caused an inadequate temperature in the patient's room. She had Alzheimer's disease and sores on his body, primarily bedsores. The sores were under control and were healing. The heat caused a bacteria that infected the sore, aggravating his health condition and bringing on new diseases, like diabetes. In short, a terrible infection caused his death.
Source: Response to online survey
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Luis Ángel Ramos Acoves
Date of death:
2017-10-19
79 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: The psychosis originated with the hurricane. When he saw the mangled aluminum roof, he was impressed. It led to depression and in the end, he took medicine and committed suicide. He had already announced it. Why is it related? Emotionally, it made him lose control. The death certificate says natural death because that’s what the doctor put. The funeral home requested that certificate from a doctor. The situation warrants a lawsuit, because the doctor who certified the death was not who took care of him. I’ve cried so much and so much.
Source: Interview with family
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Ángel Luis Meléndez Díaz
Date of death:
2017-09-22
65 years old
Place of death: Comerío
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Medical help arrived too late because there were no communications.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juan Adams
Date of death:
2017-11-25
78 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Given that we had no electricity, we couldn't refrigerate his medications. We had to stop giving them to him. We couldn't give him respiratory therapy either. Because of that he was taken to the hospital.
Source: Response to online survey
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Noel Llaberas Santiago
Date of death:
2017-11-03
68 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Influenza and pneumonia
What happened: He died of pneumonia. The roof of his house blew away and his house was flooded. He didn't have a way to dry it or remove the water. There was no electricity or communications. There were mold. He was treated at Doctor's Center. He was discharged from the hospital even though his house not being ready to live there. He died five days after being discharged from Doctor's Center. In Cerro Gordo, people didn't have power or running water and lost communication.
Source: Response to online survey
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Francisco De Jesús De Jesús
Date of death:
2017-10-12
97 years old
Place of death: Santa Isabel
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: He was taken to a shelter (hospital) the day of the hurricane. Heat caused by the lack of air conditioning worsened his health condition.
Source: Response to online survey
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Luis Rivera Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-10-01
65 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: My father was very stressed by what happened. He started repairing the zinc roof alone, even though he had a pacemaker. According to the death certificate, he died from a hypertensive ischemic cardiomyopathy. I'm a nurse and I think that the night before his death, which happened while he was sleeping early in the morning, his pacemaker was disconnected as a consequence of the extra effort he had done. Since the pacemaker was disconnected, his cardiac rhythm slowed down while he was sleeping and he died.
Source: Response to online survey
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María Socorro Pomales Suárez
Date of death:
2017-11-04
74 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Given that there was no electricity, she slipped and fell down, hitting his head, while leaving the shower.
Source: Response to online survey
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Edwin González Tirado
Date of death:
2017-09-20
63 years old
Place of death: Not collected
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He fell from a ladder while preparing for the hurricane.
Source: Response to online survey
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Josefa Báez Facio
Date of death:
2017-12-23
92 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: Bedridden person. As a consequence of the lack of electricity, she developed a bedsore that got infected by a bacteria, which caused the death. Air conditioning was needed to keep the skin fresh.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juan Antonio González Pérez
Date of death:
2017-09-23
72 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He was infected by a bacteria caused by a blackout at hospital. The hospital didn't have a power generator working. The patient was provided with a floor fan to cool the room. The patient had mechanical ventilation working properly.
Source: Response to online survey
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Nicolás Torres Colón
Date of death:
2018-01-11
91 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: His health condition worsened because he couldn't refrigerae his medication to raise his hemoglobin levels, and the stress caused by the lack of basic services.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carmen Julia Rivera Román
Date of death:
2018-01-15
55 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: She did not receive the dialysis therapy needed.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juana Castro Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-25
52 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She had been complaining from pain for or a week or two. She was taken to the local clinic and given an injection. On Friday the 24th she was taken to Doctor's Center. In the medical exams, they discovered that it was Leptospirosis. It was too late.
Source: Interview with family
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Miguel Ángel Carino Vázquez
Date of death:
2017-10-20
70 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He supposedly felt a strong pain, but no doctor was called.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ángel Luis Díaz Morales
Date of death:
2017-10-20
52 years old
Place of death: Isabela
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He died from a heart attack. Had no water or electricity, nor could he communicate with his family because there was no signal. A medical appointment was canceled because of the same circumstances.
Source: Response to online survey
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Virginia Burgos Feliciano
Date of death:
2017-10-21
70 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The medical equipment was not working due to lack of electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Gabriel Mendoza Cortés
Date of death:
2017-10-20
27 years old
Place of death: Moca
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: He died as a consequence of the blackout.
Source: Response to online survey
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Margarita Reyes Cruz
Date of death:
2017-10-19
89 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Since there was no electricity, the mechanical ventilation and the therapy machine were not working. In addition to the blackout, the heat and the lack of running water aggravated the condition of this patient.
Source: Response to online survey
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Rufino Adorno Valentín
Date of death:
2017-11-29
84 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
What happened: Bedridden person. The heat and poor ventilation affected his quality of life.
Source: Response to online survey
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Gerardo Rafael Olivera Miranda
Date of death:
2017-10-25
62 years old
Place of death: Guayanilla
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My father went to work, he felt bad, and came back home. Since there were no communications (telephone and internet), we could not call 911. We went to the local police station and they told us that the only two ambulances were not available, that they were busy.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ángel Badillo Mirles
Date of death:
2017-10-16
82 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He suffered a diabetic coma, but couldn't be taken to hospital on time because of the hurricane. There was no access to roads or communications. When he was finally taken to hospital, other organs were already affected. The hospital had no electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carmen Teresa Torres Alcocer
Date of death:
2017-09-22
91 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: She was hospitalized. The hurricane caused a blackout. She needed artificial ventilation all the time. I never was allowed to see her body or identify her. My name is Cynghia Green Torres and I'm her daughter. That happened in Menonita hospital in Caguas.
Source: Response to online survey
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Felipe Rivera Huertas
Date of death:
2017-11-09
77 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: His house and his crops of plantains, papayas, bananas and other fruits were lost. Depression, anxiety, lack of running water and electricity—all these things consumed him. He was taken to Doctor's Center in Manatí. He was still a strong person with good appetite. I lost my wife on September 13, 2017, the same day she turned 55, and my father on November 9, 2017. I'm devastated.
Source: Response to online survey
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Mariano Fonseca Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-25
76 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: They didn't have money for a generatory and his condition deteriorated because he couldn't use his apnea machine.
Source: Response to online survey
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Doris Milagros Torres Quesada
Date of death:
2017-10-14
63 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She was discharged from the hospital without the equipment needed for her treatment at home. There were no services the second time she was taken to the hospital after hurricane Maria.
Source: Response to online survey
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Liduvina González Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-23
78 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: After the hurricane, there was no air conditioning in her room and it was impossible to give her therapy. She was taken to the emergency room. She was admitted at Damas hospital. But there was no air conditioning in her room either. There was no oxygen neither. She died a day later from sepsis.
Source: Response to online survey
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Samuel Borges Colón
Date of death:
2017-11-06
70 years old
Place of death: San Lorenzo
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He got ill and had no way to get help.
Source: Response to online survey
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Myrna Mercedes Díaz Nieves
Date of death:
2017-10-07
68 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Due to lack of proper medical care, my mother had a gastrointestinal perforation, which caused her sepsis. Her condition worsened and finally she died from a septic shock.
Source: Response to online survey
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Miguelina Fernández Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-11
72 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: My mother's heart rate accelerated just knowing the news that hurricane Irma was approaching. I took her to Santa Isabel hospital. From there she was transferred to San Cristobal. She stayed there during both hurricanes (Irma and Maria.) After the hurricane, doctors told me that her condition worsened. As there was no electricity, the hospital was working with power generators. On Sunday after the hurricane, I was told that she needed to be intubated. She was intubated in her room because the intensive care unit didn't have room. One day later, the power generator was damaged and we stayed 14 hours without power, opening all the doors to cool the area. Finally she was taken to the intensive care unit. The day after arriving to the intensive unit I was told that she had a bacteria caused by the lack of electricity. Some days later my mom died.
Source: Response to online survey
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María Elena Rúa
Date of death:
2017-11-05
68 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Before the hurricane she was fine. She was dialysis patient. I have the machine at home, but it could not be used because there was no light, no water, no food, no light. I took her first to Pavía Arecibo, they did not give her treatment; they had her in the emergency room for several hours and then transferred her to a room, but they never gave her the dialysis. She was diagnosed with sepsis, and transferred. The next day they sent her to Doctor's of Manatí. She had an abscess in her arm to receive dialysis, a fistula, but in the hospital they never did that for her. There she was 10 days. I understand that it was not appropriate to have such a patient under such conditions for so long. She got sepsis because of what was happening in the country. It was a bad first-aid procedure for the patient. They discharged her in that condition. I had to take her to the house, without getting any explanation, and here she had respiratory arrest. We revived her because my granddaughters are nurses. We called 911, took her to Susoni, and she died there. There were problems getting to the unit because the river was grown. I was giving her manual dialysis in the house, but she began to deteriorate until she stopped eating. There was no telephone. Manatí is to blame for all this. No one came up to talk to us at any time. They make decisions for us over there and say nothing.
Source: Response to online survey
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Luis Raúl Martínez Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-11-19
74 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: Bedridden patient who needed electric medical devices and air conditioning. He needed an air mattress, oxygen, suction machine, feeding machine, therapy machine. After the hurricane, his pulmonary fibrosis worsened. The power generator was damaged. The access to the house was difficult. We got a power generator, but it was not possible to plug all the medical devices at the same time. Then, the infections began, fevers, and fatigue, until he left.
Source: Response to online survey
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Clara Felisa Duarte Vega
Date of death:
2017-12-10
96 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
What happened: She depended on artificial ventilation. After the hurricane, she needed to be connected to the mechanical ventilation all the time and her condition worsened.
Source: Response to online survey
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Monserrate Santana Concepción
Date of death:
2017-10-12
72 years old
Place of death: Sabana Grande
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: My dad could not breathe. We called 911, but we didn't get an ambulance. It was impossible to give him artificial ventilation because there was no electricity.
Source: Response to online survey
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Rosalía Meléndez Miranda
Date of death:
2017-11-03
93 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: The chemotherapy center canceled my grandmother's appointment in preparation to Hurricane Irma. It didn't reopen due to lack of electricity. My grandmother died from complications directly associated with lack chemotherapy.
Source: Response to online survey
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Agosto Monserrate Rosado
Date of death:
2017-10-14
77 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He was taken in critical condition to Ryder hospital in Humacao. He was discharged the same day due to lack of basic resources, such as running water, electricity, medicines and trained staff. The next day, he was taken to Menonita hospital in Caguas where he was admitted at the intensive unit and given treatment. But his condition was very critical and he died five days later.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ismael Fuentes Velázquez
Date of death:
2017-10-15
71 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: He died because the lack of electricity damaged his insulin and it was impossible to get more. The patient's glucose levels were out of control, rising to about 900. The ketones in the pancreas got out of control, too. The patient stayed approximately 13 days at hospital and the day he was supposed to be discharged, they had to call an ambulance because his sugar levels rose again. Then the hospital certified the death.
Source: Response to online survey
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Harry Figueroa Álvarez
Date of death:
2017-10-04
56 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Due to the lack of electricity, my dad suffocated because he needed air conditioning all the day for a better breathing. We took his bed to the balcony and tried to get a power generator. We took him to the hospital, but his whole system collapsed. The hospital gave me his decomposed body three days after death.
Source: Response to online survey
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María Cristina Muñiz Román
Date of death:
2017-09-20
65 years old
Place of death: Hatillo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: She began to feel ill, with vomiting, diarrhea, fever. She was a diabetic patient. We could not take her to any hospital because the winds were beginning.
Source: Response to online survey
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Vivianne Janet Olivero Jurado
Date of death:
2017-10-28
55 years old
Place of death: Dorado
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: She was bedridden and needed breathing therapies and air conditioning because she had bedsores. One week before her death, she was hospitalized with pneumonia. Due to the lack of electricity, it was not possible to give her proper treatment at home. She suffocated and medical emergency help did not arrive on time.
Source: Response to online survey
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Fernando Emilio Aponte Colón
Date of death:
2017-09-27
71 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: Stroke caused by stress related to the hurricane and its complications.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carmen Rosa García
Date of death:
2017-09-27
68 years old
Place of death: Ciales
Official cause of death: Cerebrovascular diseases
What happened: The lack of proper hygiene due to lack of running water caused the emergence of more bedsores. In addition, the ventilation machine was impossible to use because of the lack of gas for turning the generator on.
Source: Response to online survey
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Irma Ivonne Lugo Sánchez
Date of death:
2017-10-07
46 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Lack of electricity; Medical exams and precedures could not be performed. Patient with cancer who needed radiation therapy. She was discharged on September 19, 2017, from San Juan Municipal hospital with instructions to get some radiation therapies.
Source: Response to online survey
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Genaro Rodríguez Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-02
79 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: This person lost the roof over his head, lost everything. Was so sad and had a heart attack.
Source: Response to online survey
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Elena Pérez López
Date of death:
2017-11-07
92 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: Lack of electricity, medical attention, and access to communications. She fell. My mom was 92 years old and had several health conditions: osteoporosis, hypothyroidism, skin cancer, atrial fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ernie Luis Figueroa Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-04
28 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Dialysis patient. He had his dialysis therapy on Monday and the doctor told him he had chickungunya fever. On Wednesday he was at a hospital in serious health condition. The day he was supposed to have his dialysis therapy again, the dialysis center did not answer due to lack of phone signal. Finally, Doctor's Center in Carolina accepted to provide him dialysis therapy. While waiting to be transferred, the patient died at 3:21 p.m., infected by a bacteria
Source: Response to online survey
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Ernesto Rodríguez Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-06
94 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He needed breathing therapies, but it was difficult due to the blackout. He needed therapies every four hours. During the day, it was sometimes possible to find a way to give him therapies. But at night, it was impossible.
Source: Response to online survey
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Álvaro Moreno Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-01
85 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: At home, there was no electricity since Hurricane Irma. The Metropolitan hospital did not have electricity either. Being bedridden, he got a cold. He received his therapies using a power generator. But when Hurricane Maria hit, it was impossible to get gas for turning the generator on. Due to the interruption of his therapies, his condition worsened. He was taken to Metropolitan hospital but there they did not have electricity or air conditioning. The power generator stopped working several times. My dad kept getting worse and died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Marisol Cartagena Pérez
Date of death:
2017-09-27
56 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: My sister had severe depressive disorder. She tried to poison herself twice. She was once admitted at Metropolitan Psychiatric hospital in Cabo Rojo. After hurricane Maria, her daughter with three young children lost everything because her apartment got flooded. In addition to her daughter’s and grandchildren’s situation, the lack of electricity, running water and loss of communication led my sister to fall into a deep depressive state. She drank all of her medication for the depressive disorder. My niece told me that the emergency help took almost four hours to get there. The next day she died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ovidio Santa Pagán
Date of death:
2017-11-30
89 years old
Place of death: Florida
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: He lost his home and started feeling depressive until they stopped breathing.
Source: Response to online survey
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Félix López Bonilla
Date of death:
2017-10-04
84 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: The hospital did not admit him because it was full of patients.
Source: Response to online survey
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Francisca Durán Acevedo
Date of death:
2017-10-25
91 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: The lack of electricity and communication worsened her bedsore. Proper treatment was not provided on time. When she was finally taken to Mayagüez Medical Center, it was late. Her condition was complicated with sepsis. She died a week after being admitted at hospital.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ramona Matos Rivera
Date of death:
2017-12-12
91 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: She died as a consequence of the inadequate use of medical equipment due to lack of electricity. The patient required an oxygen concentrator, suction, breathing therapy, nasogastric feeding and an automatic bed. The patient's condition worsened bacause of the gases from the power generators. The nursing home's medical team lost communication, creating countless crises. The patient died of congestive heart failure.
Source: Response to online survey
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Nicómedes Santiago Piñeiro
Date of death:
2017-11-30
81 years old
Place of death: Peñuelas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: He went to a hospital, but because there was a flu outbreak he was discharged.
Source: Response to online survey
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Víctor Manuel Díaz Torres
Date of death:
2017-11-17
53 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Víctor Manuel was bedridden for 53 years, since he was born. He had several conditions, including epilepsy. After the hurricane, his health began to deteriorate because his parents, both more than 80 years old, had no electricity. Medicines were damaged, he was not fed properly, heat and the lack of runnning water were some of the things that affected his health.
Source: Response to online survey
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Mariana Marrero Figueroa
Date of death:
2017-10-25
72 years old
Place of death: Cayey
Official cause of death: Complications of medical and surgical care
What happened: The doctors could not communicate between them to coordinate my mother's heart valve surgery. There was no electricity available to perform the surgery. In addition, the tanker truck carrying water to the hospital was stolen. A lot of time was lost. My mom wast hospitalized 39 days, 20 of them at the intensive unit.
Source: Response to online survey
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Carlos Roldán Santana
Date of death:
2017-10-11
68 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He stayed in a shelter during the hurricane, away from any relative and feeling cold because the nursing home lost communication.
Source: Response to online survey
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Abraham Vicente Díaz Soltero
Date of death:
2017-11-12
65 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Abrahan needed an ambulance shuttle service three times a week to go from San Juan to a hospital in Manatí for dialysis. Hurricane Maria damaged roads, making the commute almost impossible. In addition, there was no electricity to turn the dialysis machine on. Abrahan missed several dialysis. He got pneumonia and was admitted at a hospital. He had a heart attack. Died in the Intensive Care Unit days later.
Source: Response to online survey
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Felícita Matos Ramos
Date of death:
2017-11-08
87 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: After the hurricane, she began to feel depressed and afraid of the darkness caused by blackouts. She also feared that a river would overflow. On November 7 she started feel anxious, with pain in the back and arms. I called an ambulance and we took her to Centro Médico in Mayagüez. There she died after two heart attacks. She only lasted 10 hours in the hospital. For her age she was in very good health. She worked 40 years as a specialist in dietetics in a hospital in New York.
Source: Response to online survey
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Miguel Ángel Hernández Román
Date of death:
2018-03-06
57 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: He was living at a nursing home and was transferred. They didn't use ambulances because there was no diesel. He needed dialysis but apparently he wasn't offered it. His children looked for him at the nursing home where he was supposed to be, but no information about his whereabouts was available.
Source: Response to online survey
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Gaspar Cruz Agosto
Date of death:
2017-10-19
73 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: My father was admitted to Ryder hospital on August 30 with diverticulitis, but there they found a mass inside his lung. Due to the hurricane, he was discharged. He had a stroke and was admitted to the intensive care unit, but no diagnosis was done. Because of lack of blood circulation, his right leg was amputated. He was transferred to HIMA hospital in Humacao and died. He had a painful death.
Source: Response to online survey
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Macario Seda Pérez
Date of death:
2017-09-24
101 years old
Place of death: Cabo Rojo
Official cause of death: Anemias
What happened: Since there was no electricity, the oxygen machine was not working. The oxygen tank was empty. Hospice care didn't return to the nursing home after the hurricane and lost communication.
Source: Response to online survey
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Adelaida Mejías González
Date of death:
2017-10-02
81 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: The hospital didn't treat my mother properly. The temperature in the room was so hot due to lack of air conditioning. The windows had to stay open. On September 28 she had a surgery for intestinal obstruction. After surgery, our mother was doing well. The third day after surgery she was intubated without our knowledge or consent, and on the fourth day she was just a corpse.
Source: Response to online survey
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Aurea Esther Berrios Piña
Date of death:
2017-10-11
82 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: She caught a lung infection probably as a consequence of the lack of air conditioning at the nursing home. In adition to pneumonia, the patient developed sepsis. Hospital treatment and facilities were working normally. Another person who lived in that nursing home also died but we do not know the specific details.
Source: Response to online survey
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Jorge Schettini Morales
Date of death:
2017-12-02
87 years old
Place of death: Maunabo
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: The health condition of this patient started to worsen because the lack of air conditioning during the day. It was impossible to call any medical service because there was no mobile signal.
Source: Response to online survey
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Delia María Rodríguez Rodríguez
Date of death:
2018-02-07
82 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
What happened: After hurricane she was depressed and stopped walking. She died bedridden with a sore in her skin. We provided support to her and followed all medical recommendations. As her children, we were taking care of her 24 hours a day.
Source: Response to online survey
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Iluminada Reyes Silva
Date of death:
2017-11-04
79 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
What happened: Suffering from a cold and a persistent cough, she was taken Doctor's in Bayamón without even asking in which hosptials her doctors were. I asked that she be taken to the San Pablo hospital and I was told it was not possible. Everything was taken very lightly, and in the emergency room all they did was put her on oxygen and on IV. It was hard to feel so helpless.
Source: Interview with family
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Jhon Alberto Hernández Núñez
Date of death:
2017-10-04
34 years old
Place of death: Manatí
What happened: Lack of access to medical care; lack of access to communications. He died of Leptospirosis from debris.
Source: Interview with family
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Irma González Román
Date of death:
2017-10-13
71 years old
Place of death: Not collected
What happened: She depended on oxygen. In the house there were two generators, but between the lack of gasoline and the fact that the generators couldn’t be turned off, they exploded. Her son traveled from Miami to Puerto Rico, and transported Irma to Miami. She died at the hospital in Miami after a few days. She had water in her lungs. She was buried her in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico. If the hurricane had not passed, she would not have lacked oxygen because there would have been power.
Source: Interview with family
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José Carino Ramos
Date of death:
2017-12-26
79 years old
Place of death: Not collected
What happened: The house picked up moisture and had mold. He went to spend some time in Florida after the hurricane, and it was discovered that he had a Stage 4 cancer. He never smoked or drank. The house was contaminated. He arrived with pneumonia; his lungs were filled with water and then he died.
Source: Interview with family
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Maricarmen Márquez
Date of death:
2017-11-28
62 years old
Place of death: Not collected
What happened: Lack of adequate nutrition; stress before, during and after the hurricane; lack of access to medical services for her and her mother. She died of diabetic coma, stroke and heart attack. She was diabetic and was not taking medication for this disease. She died in the City of Altamonte Springs, in the state of Florida.
Source: Interview with family
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Alberto Adame Figueroa
Date of death:
2017-09-30
55 years old
Place of death: Jayuya
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Ángel Collazo Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-29
69 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
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Ángel Rodríguez Valentín
Date of death:
2017-10-26
62 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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José Aníbal Reyes Sotomayor
Date of death:
2017-09-25
60 years old
Place of death: Santa Isabel
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Aurea Esther Benítez Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-09-26
90 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Bernardina Díaz Colón
Date of death:
2017-10-20
86 years old
Place of death: Aibonito
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
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Carmen María Meléndez
Date of death:
2017-09-21
84 years old
Place of death: Utuado
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Catalina Martínez Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-09-20
78 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Celedonio Cuevas Olang
Date of death:
2017-10-04
69 years old
Place of death: Adjuntas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Daniel Torres Cruz
Date of death:
2017-09-21
49 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Delia López Vélez
Date of death:
2017-10-01
80 years old
Place of death: Utuado
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Eduviges Soto Pérez
Date of death:
2017-10-12
100 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Eduviges Tellado Aponte
Date of death:
2017-10-02
91 years old
Place of death: Lares
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
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Eileen González Castillo
Date of death:
2017-09-26
48 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Elizabeth Mary Colón Miranda
Date of death:
2017-10-06
60 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Estrella Román Pabón
Date of death:
2017-09-26
75 years old
Place of death: Utuado
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Félix Cuevas Maldonado
Date of death:
2017-10-21
70 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Félix Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-11-28
83 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Félix Renta
Date of death:
2017-09-25
79 years old
Place of death: Villalba
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Froilán Suárez Marcial
Date of death:
2017-09-23
76 years old
Place of death: Guánica
Official cause of death: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
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Gloria Esther Vega Candelaria
Date of death:
2017-09-21
72 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Héctor Manuel Ortiz Suárez
Date of death:
2017-09-28
62 years old
Place of death: Jayuya
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Édgar Rubén Caraballo Matías
Date of death:
2017-09-27
46 years old
Place of death: Adjuntas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Isaías Jael Malavé Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-13
0 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period
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Ismael Tellado Rios Jr
Date of death:
2017-09-28
53 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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José Antonio Caraballo Mercado
Date of death:
2017-09-29
93 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Essential (primary hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
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José Antonio Santiago Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-12
84 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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José Enrique Martínez Rentas
Date of death:
2017-09-21
65 years old
Place of death: Villalba
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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José Heredia Medina
Date of death:
2017-09-29
86 years old
Place of death: Utuado
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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José Ricardo Galarza Mercado
Date of death:
2017-09-27
62 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Jovita López Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-12
82 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Hermenegildo Cote Meléndez
Date of death:
2017-09-25
95 years old
Place of death: Lajas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Luis Antonio Cartagena Pérez
Date of death:
2017-11-06
69 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Complications of medical and surgical care
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Luis Imperial Rivera Cruz
Date of death:
2017-10-18
77 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Luis Rodríguez Rofriguez
Date of death:
2017-09-22
63 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Manuel Flores Escobar
Date of death:
2017-10-12
44 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Margarita Rodríguez Caraballo
Date of death:
2017-10-22
85 years old
Place of death: Adjuntas
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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María Victoria Campos Alvarado
Date of death:
2017-10-02
92 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Marilyn Vega Ramos
Date of death:
2017-09-23
44 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Miguel Ángel Malavé Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-28
60 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Moisés Rodríguez Lafontaine
Date of death:
2017-10-21
84 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
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Noé Correa Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-30
66 years old
Place of death: Guayanilla
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Norberto Vega Maldonado
Date of death:
2017-09-20
68 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Olga Marina Barros Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-24
81 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Olga Margarita Vázquez Luna
Date of death:
2017-09-20
82 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Paulita Cidrón Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-02
69 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Pedro Eddie Pérez Ruiz
Date of death:
2017-09-30
66 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Rafael Burgos Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-09-22
61 years old
Place of death: Orocovis
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Luis Rafael Rodríguez Vargas
Date of death:
2017-09-21
71 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
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Ramón Luis Morales Santiago
Date of death:
2017-09-30
51 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
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Ramona Casiano Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-01
88 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Rita María Albino Vázquez
Date of death:
2017-10-05
91 years old
Place of death: Orocovis
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Rita Rosario Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-02
88 years old
Place of death: Adjuntas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Salvador Armando Rosa Montañez
Date of death:
2017-09-25
72 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Serafín Caraballo Silva
Date of death:
2017-09-30
75 years old
Place of death: Yauco
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Wilfredo López Pérez
Date of death:
2017-10-27
78 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Teodoro Colón Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-09-20
82 years old
Place of death: Orocovis
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Ángel Luis Lorenzo González
Date of death:
2017-09-21
47 years old
Place of death: Aguada
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Alida Ruiz González
Date of death:
2017-09-21
73 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Aura Lydia Rivas Flores
Date of death:
2017-09-20
92 years old
Place of death: Guaynabo
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
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Benigno De Jesús Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-09-22
68 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Betsaida Colón Colón
Date of death:
2017-09-22
61 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Carmen Gladys González Collazo
Date of death:
2017-09-20
73 years old
Place of death: Utuado
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Daniel Martínez
Date of death:
2017-09-27
45 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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David Serrano Hernández
Date of death:
2017-09-20
57 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Doel Ramos Báez
Date of death:
2017-09-30
37 years old
Place of death: Guayama
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Emma Díaz Morales
Date of death:
2017-10-01
65 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Enrique Acevedo Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-19
78 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Enrique Pérez Rivera
Date of death:
2017-10-17
71 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Francisca Del Valle
Date of death:
2017-09-21
75 years old
Place of death: Juncos
Official cause of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases
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Francisca Esquilin Mendoza
Date of death:
2017-10-06
89 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Septicemia
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Gabriel Omar Rodríguez Sepúlveda
Date of death:
2017-09-29
27 years old
Place of death: San Germán
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Gretchen Grisselle Miranda Negrón
Date of death:
2017-10-29
44 years old
Place of death: Vega Baja
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
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Harold Cancel Rosa
Date of death:
2017-09-24
55 years old
Place of death: Toa Baja
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Harry Arce Tirado
Date of death:
2017-09-25
31 years old
Place of death: Rincón
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
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Héctor Luis Matías Torres
Date of death:
2017-09-21
52 years old
Place of death: Aguada
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Héctor Luis Merced Hernández
Date of death:
2017-09-24
59 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Higinio Calderón Mercado
Date of death:
2017-09-20
93 years old
Place of death: Trujillo Alto
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Iris Minerva González Collazo
Date of death:
2017-09-20
74 years old
Place of death: Utuado
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Javier Jesús Miranda Matos
Date of death:
2017-10-06
18 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Jorge Antonio Pabón Orona
Date of death:
2017-09-30
25 years old
Place of death: Vega Alta
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
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José Antonio Rivera Santiago
Date of death:
2017-09-20
59 years old
Place of death: Jayuya
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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José David Muñiz Otero
Date of death:
2017-10-03
43 years old
Place of death: Not collected
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José Javier Suárez Menéndez
Date of death:
2017-11-07
78 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Intentional self-harm (suicide
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Juan Enrique Mora Quiñones
Date of death:
2017-09-20
75 years old
Place of death: Cataño
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Juana Rosario Clemente
Date of death:
2017-10-18
69 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Septicemia
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Kevin Ariel Montijo Martínez
Date of death:
2017-10-11
18 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Keyla Damaris Santiago Cabrera
Date of death:
2017-09-20
39 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
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Lawrence Benjamín Potter
Date of death:
2017-09-20
55 years old
Place of death: Vieques
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Lydia Rivera Saldaña
Date of death:
2017-09-21
94 years old
Place of death: Juncos
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Lucía Torres Vargas
Date of death:
2017-09-21
95 years old
Place of death: Cataño
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Luis Ángel Lusiano Vilanova
Date of death:
2017-10-04
71 years old
Place of death: Lajas
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Luis Cintrón Goden
Date of death:
2017-09-21
41 years old
Place of death: Las Marías
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Luis Manuel Santana Ruiz
Date of death:
2017-10-31
73 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Luz María Ortiz Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-09-20
72 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Martín Lozada Rivera
Date of death:
2017-09-20
64 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Maximino Feliciano
Date of death:
2017-09-21
69 years old
Place of death: Arecibo
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Miguel Orlando Pacheco
Date of death:
2017-09-21
71 years old
Place of death: Río Grande
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Miguel Omar Coss Medina
Date of death:
2017-10-19
36 years old
Place of death: San Lorenzo
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Molly Rosado Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-10-05
55 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Obed Rivera Crespo
Date of death:
2017-10-04
71 years old
Place of death: Moca
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Ramón Antonio Mercado García
Date of death:
2017-10-08
60 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Ramón Jorge Morales
Date of death:
2017-09-19
64 years old
Place of death: Hormigueros
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Ramón Rivera Pino
Date of death:
2017-09-23
0 years old
Place of death: Not collected
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Roberto Serrano Rosa
Date of death:
2017-09-21
65 years old
Place of death: Fajardo
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Rosa Cintrón Irizarry
Date of death:
2017-09-20
69 years old
Place of death: Canóvanas
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Dominick Anthony Santiago Faura
Date of death:
2017-10-01
57 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Sara Luz González Collazo
Date of death:
2017-09-20
72 years old
Place of death: Utuado
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Tomás Quintana Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-09-21
70 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Wesley Negrón Adorno
Date of death:
2017-09-22
29 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Minerva Ayala Salgado
Date of death:
2017-11-28
58 years old
Place of death: Vieques
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: After the hurricane she stopped receiving chemotherapy for lack of transportation. She used to travel by boat to the big island. She was admitted at a hospital and had a surgery. They gave her a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy to feed her. She was discharged, but at home she had no electricity to be fed properly. Given the lack of electricity, there were no air conditioning either. Some sores started to appear on her body. Until she could no longer hold out and died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Andrés Corcino Camacho
Date of death:
2017-11-25
64 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Lack of access to medical attention; medical malpractice.
Source: Response to online survey
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Antonia Vegerano Herrera
Date of death:
2017-09-21
91 years old
Place of death: Vieques
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Health condition directly related to the hurricane; lack of oxygen machine.
Source: Response to online survey
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Félix París Tapia
Date of death:
2017-12-23
65 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
What happened: Hurricane Maria affected the dialysis center on Vieques island. As the services got interrupted in Vieques, he had to travel to Humacao or Cupey, in the main island, three times a week for getting dialysis therapy. He was bedridden and the trips were rough. His condition started rapidly to deteriorate. So we were advised not to take him anymore, but we continued until he died.
Source: Response to online survey
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Juan Boulogne Pérez
Date of death:
2017-09-29
101 years old
Place of death: Carolina
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Lack of medical treatment because the electric system collapsed at the hospital in Carolina and the communication went down.
Source: Response to online survey
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Ramón Ortiz Rodríguez
Date of death:
2017-12-01
81 years old
Place of death: Vieques
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
What happened: Health condition directly realted to the hurricane; heart attack.
Source: Response to online survey
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Serafín Ortiz Andino
Date of death:
2018-01-11
93 years old
Place of death: Yabucoa
Official cause of death: Diseases of heart
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Lucila Pardo Ubide
Date of death:
2018-02-17
96 years old
Place of death: Toa Baja
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: Without electricity, the adjustable bed was not working. The patient had bedsores.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Abraham Rolon Cordero
Date of death:
2018-03-22
85 years old
Place of death: Naranjito
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: Cancer patient who could not receive treatment for three months. Cancer metastasis.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Alfredo Cabrera Donato
Date of death:
2018-04-16
40 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
What happened: After the hurricane, he lost the construction work he had, and fell behind in child support payments. He got depressed because of all of that and committed suicide.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Nelson Acevedo Pérez
Date of death:
2017-09-25
68 years old
Place of death: Aguadilla
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: He died three days after the hurricane due to lack of oxygen. The Good Samaritan hospital discharged him prior to the hurricane.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Ivelisse Rosario Báez
Date of death:
2017-12-09
54 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms
What happened: She received no cancer treatment due to energy failure.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Nydia Morales Pérez
Date of death:
2017-12-21
63 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
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Juanito Rivera Burgos
Date of death:
2018-03-21
83 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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Meraris Class Adorno
Date of death:
2017-09-23
34 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Accidents (unintentional injuries
What happened: A tree fell on his car.
Source: Tip from family and friends
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Josefa Chevres Rivera
Date of death:
2018-02-14
81 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Other Causes
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José Manuel Torres Martínez
Date of death:
2018-01-26
58 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Viral hepatitis
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Néstor E. Torres Candelas
Date of death:
2018-03-02
93 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Heart failure
What happened: He was living at Egida del Maestro, a home for the elderly. This facility was without water and electricity, and that situation took a toll on him. He felt he was a burden to his sister, who he thought was making a lot of sacrifices to visit and take care of him. This led to depression and a suicide attempt. This was something very strange in him. He had never done anything like that; he never had any mental health problems. All of this behavior was related to the hurricane. After the suicide attempt he was admitted at Hospital del Maestro, where he got a foley catheter. He had it in until he died in March. During these months he developed several infections, physical problems, including kidney-related. He was also admitted into a mental institution, where he stayed a week under observation. After that he developed a urinary tract infection because of the foley. He was back to Hospital del Maestro, where the quality of services was bad. This was the last hospitalization, which lasted almost a month until he died.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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María Del Carmen Vélez Prieto
Date of death:
2017-10-19
78 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: Three weeks after the hurricane she began to vomit blood. She was taken to the hospital where they diagnosed sepsis by dehydration. Before the hurricane she was OK. She only presented early symptoms of Alzheimer's. She was by no means sick enough to die. She was strong, she could eat on her own, even if she couldn't walk. She was bed ridden because she had a knee implant. The generator at the nursing home where she was staying began to fail, and they didn't have enough personnel to take care of so many people. Thre were two employees taking care of 15 elderly residents. They were not prepared. A bedridden person like her needed to be well hydrated and in an air-conditioned place all day.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Rogelio César Toro Collado
Date of death:
2017-10-22
79 years old
Place of death: Lajas
Official cause of death: Alzheimers disease
What happened: After the hurricane he was hospitalized in Hospital de la Concepción with double pneumonia. He also developed ulcers because he could hardly move. He couldn't use his electric mattress or the air conditioning due to the power outages. After being released from the hospital, his lungs were very weak; he depended 100% on oxygen. While at home, the amount of oxygen administered had to be reduced due to the oxygen shortage in the island. The lack of oxygen and electricity complicated everything. He died three days after being released from the hospital.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Delfina Rodríguez García
Date of death:
2017-10-02
87 years old
Place of death: Toa Alta
Official cause of death: Hypertensive heart disease
What happened: Delfina's daughter says her mother had been in the hospital for two weeks before the hurricane due to heart problems. She was released, and her family prepared everything they needed to take care of her at home, including oxygen. After Maria hit the island, they ran out of oxygen, and Delfina went two days without it. After many calls, they finally received an oxygen tank, but it was empty. It is because of this lack of oxygen that Delfina died. The family reported the company that supplied the empty oxygen tank, they also reported the difficulty they had to reach nurses and doctors to take care of Delfina at home.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Mildred Ivette Rodríguez Torres
Date of death:
2017-10-30
57 years old
Place of death: Ponce
Official cause of death: Septicemia
What happened: Mildred's daughter reported that her mother suffered a heart attack on September 5 and was hospitalized for 15 days. On September 26, she was hospitalized again in Hospital Damas because she was suffering from asthma, a condition that been controlled up to that moment. She had to wait in the emergency area for a day and a half before getting a room. When she finally got it, there was no ventilation. The family asked for another room because she was having problems breathing on her own. She stayed there for four days, until she was finally moved to a room that had some ventilation. Another three days went by and her condition did not improve. The doctor in charge wanted to send her home, telling the family that what was happening was “normal, due to the high temperatures.” She then had a diabetic crisis and was transferred to the ICU, where her respiratory problems got worse. There was no air conditioning at the ICU and she was intubated for 21 days, after which they performed a tracheotomy. She caught an infection due to the lack of air conditioning. This is why the cause of death is septicemia. She also developed ulcers in different parts of her body.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Francisco López Ramos
Date of death:
2017-10-14
93 years old
Place of death: Guaynabo
Official cause of death: Hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
What happened: Francisco's daughter reports that her father suffered a syncope because of the hurricane, and that's when his condition started to deteriorate. After the hurricane they lost power and they couldn't find a doctors willing to go up nine flights of stairs to their home. The family tried to get him into a hospital, but they were told that is was safer to stay at home, because the hospitals did not have water or electricity. The daughter called the hospital ship USNS Comfort, but was told that only the patient's wife—who's 92 years old and does not speak English—could speak for him. The family also tried calling 911, but responders told them that there were no ambulances available, and that, because of Francisco's age, he was better off in his house. Finally, a foreign doctor climbed the nine flights of stairs, made recommendations for some medications, but did not recommend hospice care. The family still requested their health plan to approve it, but the answer came too late, the day Francisco died. The daughter opted for cremation because she did not want her father lying in a trailer for days.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Gloria María Giménez Fuentes
Date of death:
2017-10-14
78 years old
Place of death: Río Grande
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: Her son reports that she wanted to live alone, but that he and his brother didn't allow it. She was living with her older son because she lost her house to the hurricane. She wanted to be with her sister in Florida because there was no water or electricity where she was staying. There was nothing to do all day long. She was depressed. The day she died, after she got up and brushed her teeth, she collapsed and fell.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Nuncia Bonini Figueroa
Date of death:
2017-10-28
80 years old
Place of death: Mayagüez
Official cause of death: All other diseases (Residual)
What happened: The neighbors say that she was in the patio trying to clear the drains. The water was contaminated, and she had a cut. She had had cancer but was in remission at that moment. She contracted Leptospirosis after the hurricane. One of the doctors said that she had a yellowish tone. She didn't have water or electricity; the neighbors looked after her. She sent the informant a letter letting him know how she was suffering because of the lack of water and electricity. A month after she died, Mayaguez got power back.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Robert Leon Kringel Cuber
Date of death:
2017-11-16
91 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: All other forms of heart disease
What happened: My uncle´s house flooded because of the hurricane, so he was staying at a neighbor's houses. Because he was not familiar with the house, he fell and broke his pelvis. He was taken to the hospital, but there was no space inside, so he was left in a tent outside. After a while he was sent back home due to the lack of space. There wasn't enough medical personnel to take care of him. He got ulcers on his feet, which developed gangrene. He had to have one of his feet amputated. ¨His heart couldn´t resist it.¨
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Carmen Teresa Ríos Bacó
Date of death:
2017-11-12
62 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: All other diseases (Residual)
What happened: She was feeling really bad. She did not have a health plan. She went to Hospital Pavia in Hato Rey but she was discharged. She went to USNN Comfort but she was treated under a tarp outside. They referred her to Centro Médico. I started conversations to get her to Miami, but had no luck. She has a son who lives in the mainland. She was hospitalized again and was told that she needed dialysis. This was something completely new for her. She had never suffered from this condition. It was not possible to find someone to insert the catheter for her dialysis. The person who shared the room with her overheard the doctors saying that she had contracted Leptospirosis.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Guillermo Irizarry Rubio
Date of death:
2017-11-21
101 years old
Place of death: Caguas
Official cause of death: All other forms of chronic ischemic heart disease
What happened: He suffered a hemorrhagic stroke on November 11, caused by the high level of stress that the situation after the hurricane put him through. He was a very healthy person. He drove his own car at 101 years of age. He was perfect. He took care of my grandmother, his wife, but the lack of electricity and water was making him very anxious. It was too much burden, too much responsibility, too much stress. All that time after the hurricane he was on top of everything to keep my grandmother comfortable. When he could finally talk what he said was that he was worried about the lack of power and the generator. Too much stress.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Juana Ruiz Rivera
Date of death:
2017-11-04
86 years old
Place of death: Humacao
Official cause of death: Peptic ulcer
What happened: I wanted to bring her with me to Florida but the earliest flight was in December. I took her to Hospital HIMA Humacao but they didn't have the means to take care of her. She was transferred to HIMA Caguas. There she received blood transfusions because her hemoglobin was down to 6. She stopped eating. They never administered oxygen. She began to deteriorate. She constantly said: “hear me, help me”. She didn´t move. I called the Red Cross to try to take her out of the Island, but the doctor in charge would not give us the necessary letter because, as she said, there were other patients with greater needs. She sent her home for the same reason, and because her hemoglobin was up. Once in her house she did not respond. Her doctor visited her and told my family that she did not have enough oxygen, and that she should go back to the hospital. The ambulance driver said that she would not make the trip, that she was too fragile. They were in Yabucoa on the way to Caguas, but they had to stop in Humacao, where she was hospitalized. The doctor there told my family that she had had a heart attack while in HIMA Caguas. She did not receive proper care there. She had a pacemaker. The person at the funeral home told us that she did not have ulcers.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Jaime Antonio La Fuente Rivera
Date of death:
2017-12-11
81 years old
Place of death: San Juan
Official cause of death: Heart failure
What happened: On September 11, after Hurricane Irma, he had surgery at Centro Cardiovascular. When hurricane Maria came he was still hospitalized there. No family member was allowed to stay with him. They moved all patients from their rooms to a safe place. There was no electricity or air conditioning; they only had fans. We went by the hospital several times, but were not able to see him. When we finally saw him, he was all covered with ulcers. He had been tied to the bed because he did not know what was going on and thought we had abandoned him. He was discharged from the hospital and we took him home. The ulcers got worse because we didn´t have water or electricity. He was hospitalized at the VA hospital but the ulcers never got better. Were it not for the ulcers, he'd still be alive.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Ramona Ortiz Ortiz
Date of death:
2017-12-13
91 years old
Place of death: Guaynabo
Official cause of death: All other diseases (Residual)
What happened: She had a gallbladder operation before the hurricane and that's when she started developing the ulcers. She was at the hospital during the hurricane. We went to the hospital on the following and that looked like a disaster area. Dark corridors; there was no doctor anywhere, just one or two nurses. The hospital was closed, they had brought all patients down, using I do not know which ramps. She was in the emergency room, which was very dark and had no windows. She was lying there and there was no doctor. Those who monitored the patients were the security guard and one or two nurses. The hospital was not prepared for the emergency. They did not have a generator or a cistern. I think the hospital was negligent and that led her to die.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Luis Alberto Ortega Normandía
Date of death:
2017-12-07
49 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Renal failure
What happened: A neighbor found him unconscious at his house. He was taken to Doctor's Hospital in Manatí, where he stayed for almost a week. He was cleaning up hurricane debris because three months had gone by and the local government hadn't picked it up. It appears he cut himself and contracted Leptospirosis. The first few days the doctors didn't know and treated him like he had the flu, because of the fever, but afterwards Leptospirosis was confirmed. After that he was intubated, and his kidneys started to fail. He received dialysis treatments. The last day his fever came down, but his lungs collapsed. This was very hard; he was our younger brother.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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José Gotay Díaz
Date of death:
2017-12-25
75 years old
Place of death: Bayamón
Official cause of death: Diabetes mellitus
What happened: The situation after Maria made Daddy despair, because it has so complicated to get water. I used to go to the ice plant and that put him into a state. He would start fixing things too, and then I would come back empty-handed. He said that it was difficult for him to continue to endure that because it made him anxious, depressed, and by the end we would ask me to please not leave because he was afraid something would happen to me. I told Mommy to stay with him while I went with my daughter and we brought back what we found. But Daddy fell into a very deep depression and told me that he did not know how much longer he was going to be able to witdhstand the situation
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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Rafael Otero Miranda
Date of death:
2017-12-22
39 years old
Place of death: Manatí
Official cause of death: Malignant neoplasms of colon, rectum and anus
What happened: He needed oxygen 24-7 but it was impossible because the was no electricity. To keep the generator going constantly was very hard. He never go to see power restored; it came back nine days after his death.
Source: Response to online survey, followed by interview with family
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